Chandnaish Correspondent: On February 29, in Chandnaish Dohazari municipality of Chittagong, Bangladesh Supreme Court High Court Division judge Naima Hyder suspended the lease of Farmers Wholesale Vegetable Bazaar Sakal (Station Road Dohazari) serial no. A joint bench of Justice Kazi Zeenat Haque. On March 20th (Wednesday), the High Court suspended the writ petition No. 3278/2024 of a joint bench against the plaintiff, Mohammad Abu Yusuf, against seven persons of the concerned department. It is known from the copy of the attestation of lawyer Muminul Islam Chowdhury in the Supreme Court that the judge gave this suspension order taking into account that the movement of the permanent residents of the area is being obstructed. It is also said that the order will be prepared and sent to the concerned department within two weeks.
Dohajari Station Road Bazaar is the oldest bazaar in the region, consisting of railways, waterways, and roads built during the British period. Farmers in some upazilas, including the neighboring Bandarban district, are meeting the food needs of the residents of every city in the country by selling vegetables in this market. Various business establishments, including small and big shops, have been established on both sides of the railway station road. Now, competition has started to occupy this market. Later, the railway may have to file a case in court to evict these squatters, said the passersby.
If you want to know, Abu Yusuf said that they have already complained to the District Commissioner, Upazila Executive Officer, and the Mayor for giving a market lease on the road on behalf of the public. Later, when this issue was published in some newspapers, he complained to the High Court, and the court granted a stay on the municipality’s activities in granting the market lease. In this regard, the executive officer of Dohazari Municipality. Shamsuddin said the municipality is leasing the market in the morning to the farmers called Station Road, which has been running for a long time in a certain place. They will appeal against the stay imposed by falsely explaining to the court that an influential mahal had created a pretext for setting up a market within Station Road.
He said that according to the tender circular of the Bangladesh Railway Divisional Land Office dated December 29, 2023, a total of 8 plots of Dohazari Mauza are located on the south-west side of Dohazari station under Chittagong division, south of the station road, on the west side of the Chittagong-Dohazari branch line, at a distance of 50 inches from the railway line. An influential group got the tender for the amount of 10,000 square feet at 24 taka per annum. They have been collecting uncontrollable subscriptions of 30 lakh rupees from the farmers who sell vegetables in the morning raw market called Station Road by creating syndicates in the ownership of tenders and constructing semi-ripe markets by blocking plots. But if the land belongs to the market, only the municipality has the right to lease it, he said.
