Rupnagar Lake which may be made a recreation centre for the people of greater Mirpur like Hatirjheel Lake in the city has become a source of extortion by the influential section of the locality and major portions of the lake are being grabbed , it is widely alleged.
Sources said, 22 -acre Rupnagar Lake located at Ward No 7 under Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has already turned into slums as unscrupulous people are still building shanties and renting them out to poorer dwellers to earn money illegally .
Local people alleged that OC ( Investigation) of Rupnagar Police Station Golam Rabbani has a link with local people who are engaged in providing illegal connections of electricity and WASA. Dulal alias Current Dual, a local Jubo League activist and Sohel alias Jamai Sohel allegedly manages the whole thing in collusion with local councilor Haji Rajab Hossain and police. OC (Investigation) of Rupnagar Police Station denied his involvement.
Slum dwellers said , on average, they pay Tk 500 for electricity, water charge Tk 300 and Tk 900 to 1500 for gas per month. The Titas authority, however, sometimes conducts drive to snap the illegal gas connections, but within a couple of days the powerful syndicates reinstall the supply. Thus they illegally earn over Tk one crore .
A devastating fire broke out at Rupnagar Lake slums recently , burning more than a thousand shanties. Flames from burners, short-circuits, burning mosquito coils and cigarette butts and arson attacks are found to be behind most of the slum fires.
Because of low rent, hawkers, shopkeepers, roadside vendors, rickshaw and van pullers, CNG drivers, domestic helps and workers from garment, construction and transport sectors live in the slum houses, mostly made of tin, wood and bamboo.
The local elite have become conscious to save the Lake and decided to form a civic committee under the banner Rupnagar Lake Implementation Committee with the assistance of Bhumi Adhikar Bastobayan Sangstha (Society for the Enforcement of Land Rights ) , a human rights body working for land rights of people , These organisations will launch social movement to make Rupnagar Lake like Hatirjheel Lake to provide recreational facilities to the dwellers of greater Mirpur .
Local people said , Ministry of Housing and Public Works , National Housing Authority or DNCC did not take any steps to evict the slums from the government land and government land worth crores of taka is being grabbed by the encroachers .
