Sagar Biswas :The crisis over eviction of Tejgaon truck stand is not yet over. Hundreds of adamant truckers are still forcibly occupying a huge portion of land of Railways and other ministries in the area, though the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) recently conducted an eviction drive. Locals said that the place is still being used for parking trucks, lorries, covered vans and pickups.There are 6,000 trucks and covered vans in the truck stand and 50,000-60,000 workers are employed there. If the authorities play any trick, the workers will initiate a massive movement, they said. ‘Tejgaon truck stand has been built on 39 bighas of land. Of them, the Ministry of Works and Housing is owner of 3-4 bighas of land. The rest is owned by the Railways. The whole land has been under occupation since 1972,’ General Secretary of Truck-Covered Van Owners’ Association Rustam Ali Khan said on Saturday. ‘It was a wetland. The labourers had filled up the water body and made it useable for truck stand……We are ready to vacate the stand in favour of development of railways. But we will resist it with all force, if anybody tries to give the land to other departments,’ he said. “I admit that the truck stand was illegal. But thousands of workers are earning their livelihood from this truck stand. These workers must be rehabilitated before complete eviction of the truck stand,” he said.It is learnt that some unscrupulous officials of the Railways have allegedly given lease of the land to the unauthorised users in exchange of money. They also regularly take ‘monthly payment from the occupants. The members of Railway Security Force also collect money from there. When contacted, Railways Minister Mujibul Haque told The New Nation on Saturday that none would be able to grab railway’s property by flexing muscles. ‘It is property of Bangladesh Railways and the illegal occupants would be evicted from there soon.’ ‘We already sat with three owners’ associations, including Truck-Covered Van Owners Association, and discussed the matter. They [illegal occupants] will leave the place after the railways authorities serve legal notice,’ the Minister said. Interestingly, Secretary of Railways Ministry Md Firoz Salahuddin differed with the Railways Minister in this regard. He said we tried to evict them several times, but the land could not be recovered. We are allowing to keeping some trucks in that place due to formal request from Truck – Covered Van Owners Association. We will evict illegal occupants from the entire area, he said. According to locals, several dozens of garages have sprang up near the rail track while several other illegal establishments have also been set up in and around the Tejgaon Railway Station. ‘The truck stand is illegal as well as the garages are illegal. All the establishments in the vast rail land are illegal in the eyes of law. But at present we have no option. We have built the garages in this land getting lease from the railway authorities and spending millions of taka, Mahmudul Islam Pintoo, a garage owner, said.Replying to a query, Director General of Bangladesh Railways Md Amzad Hossain said, “Railway Ministry is owner of the land. The truck workers are trying to occupy the land showing muscles. “Earlier on November 29, the DNCC authorities postponed eviction drive at Tejgaon truck stand in the face of agitating transport workers’ protest.The drive took a violent turn as transport workers attacked the DNCC team by brick chips. At one stage, the DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq was kept confined inside the office of Bangladesh Truck and Covered Van Drivers Union office for about three and a half hours.
