PV Online Report : The British took control of Chittagong in 1760. Since then they established various government offices and establishments in Chittagong. In 1870, the British acquired 209 acres of land from Kadamtali to Pahartali via Tiger Pass.
CRB (Central Railway Building) was constructed in 1872 as an administrative building. After the establishment of the Assam Bengal Railway, the British Government handed over 160 acres of land including CRB to the Railways on November 14, 1893 through the official gazette. CRB was made the headquarters of the Assam Bengal Railway. Railways came to Chittagong to enrich the rich tea industry of Assam and Sylhet.
At that time tea could not be exported through Chittagong port despite the distance from Assam being very short. It used to take 15 days for a tea-laden boat or bullock cart to reach Calcutta. From there this tea was exported to the world market. Considering the importance of these things, the British built railway communication system with the whole country. Acquired land.
Due to various reasons, many lands of the railway have become desolate. After the Awami League government came to power, the railway started operations to rescue the places. In continuation of this, the Departmental Lands Department started reclaiming the abandoned railway land. Railways has reclaimed 10 acres of land in the last one year. Also, 7500 illegal occupants have been evicted. One and a half thousand illegal structures have been demolished.
It is reported that on 25 August 2021, 253 semi-paved, tinned and shanty houses built illegally on the land owned by the railways were evicted on both sides of the Janali Hat railway station. 548 occupants were evicted. 1.3 acres of land has been recovered. In four raids from October 7 to November 25, 32 structures, 50 squatters and 0.2 acres of land were recovered illegally on railway owned land in the area adjacent to Kadmatali Railway Bungalow No. F/23 in the city.
Also, 91 illegal structures were evicted from Railway Chittagong Pay-and-Cash, Railway Man’s Store, No. 3 Coal Ghat area adjacent to Chandpur Bara Railway Station, Chittagong Jhautla-Sholshahar area, 516 illegal occupants were evicted and 0.93 acres of land was recovered.
Edited By-SPT
