Cox’s Bazar Correspondent: The sandy beach of Nazirertek beach in Cox’s Bazar is being encroached upon, and illegal shops are being built. Already 40 shops have been built, occupying about 30 acres of sandy beach. Although this process of forcible occupation has been going on for the past two months due to administrative relaxation, some shops have recently been evicted on the initiative of the administration. After that, the forced occupation started again. According to local sources, the incident of encroachment of sand on the beach located on the west side of Nazirertek Shuntki Mahal, adjacent to the airport of Cox’s Bazar city, is not new. However, since the end of the previous government, this process of expropriation has intensified and is still continuing.
Abdul Karim, a local businessman, said that Ward No. 1 Awami League vice president Abdul Quader and some of the encroachers of Maheshkhali have started this encroachment process again since the middle of July. Before this, under the leadership of Ward Awami League President Atiq Ullah Company, about 100 acres of beach land were forcibly occupied. A local fisherman named Jahangir said that even a few years ago, nets were woven in this place, fish were picked up and downed from trawlers, and tourists were transported. But now the place is in the hands of squatters. If this continues for a long time, the entire beach will disappear. Tourists will not come. However, attempts to contact them to know about the complaint were unsuccessful. A local resident named Liakat Mia said that during the period of Awami League government, the leaders and workers of their party occupied illegally. After the coming of the interim government, everyone expected that Baluchar would be free from encroachment. But the process of possession is more two-fold. He said this place belongs to the government, not anyone’s ancestral property. We hope that this sandpit will be freed from Jabar occupation soon.
Mohammad Atiq Ullah, General Secretary of Nazirertech Fish Traders Cooperative Association, said that the influential people are occupying the beach and building shops in the dark of night. In the meantime, about 30 acres of land have been occupied by the new-old combination. The encroachers are selling these places in the form of plots. There is a conflict going on among the occupants. Major accidents can happen around this possession.
In this regard, Arif Ullah Nizami, Assistant Commissioner (Land) of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Upazila, said that a few illegal shops were evicted by the administration after receiving information about encroachment of the beach. However, no one was found at the scene during the operation.
He said the remaining illegal structures have also been ordered to be removed quickly. If they disobey the order, they will be brought under the law.
