Sirajganj Correspondent :
At least six people including Assistant Commissioner (Land) Liaquat Salman were injured when the local people and the administration involved in a clash over the construction of government houses under shelter project on a playground in Baldipara-Haldighar village of Shahjadpur Upazila of the district.
Meanwhile, the administration was forced to retreat in the face of hundreds of villagers. Around 11 am on Sunday, when the administration went to the traditional Baldipara-Haldighar playground, the proposed site for the government shelter project, the local people started massive resistance against the project.
Villagers built barricades at the entrance of the project site felling with trees and bamboo to protect the crops field.
When the administration wanted to enter by ignoring the people’s barricade, a clash erupted between the local people and administration.
Shahjadpur Assistant Commissioner (Land) Liaquat Salman was injured in the clash.
The six other injured are a fifth grade student Sumaiya Khatun (10), Monija Khatun (30), Aleya (40), Ozufa Khatun (35) and Maryam Begum (50).
Locals said that the injured have been admitted to different hospitals for treatment.
Upazila Health Complex Medical Officer Dr. Masud Rana told reporters that the condition of injured Shahzadpur Assistant Commissioner (Land) was critical.
Officer-in-charge of Shahjadpur police station Nazrul Islam said that the police went to the spot and the situation is normal. In this regard, no case has been filed yet as the Upazila
Nirbahi Officer is out of Shahjadpur. Villagers of six villages including Nasreen Khatun, BKSP regular player Nayan Tara, Ratna Khatun, Jaigan Begum, Akbar Mandal and Abdul Hai staged agitation to protect the playground.
People from all walks of life formed a human chain on July 14. The human chain urged the administration to preserve the traditional playground and build government houses elsewhere. But denying the legitimate demands of the people, the administration forcibly went to the playground on Sunday for the purpose of filling the soil to build shelter project houses and indiscriminately hit women and children. Later, the crowd tried to resist them by throwing road sand in their eyes, local people alleged.
