Buriganga land grabbed by MP and others to build dockyards

A canal joins up with the river Buriganga at the Apish field area in Gandaria of South Keraniganj of Dhaka. This is locally known as the Shubhadhya canal. A total of 27 dockyards have been established on the one-and-a-half-kilometre stretch between this canal and shoal along the bank of the river up till Telghat in Kaliganj.

Officials of the shipping department say that these dockyards have been constructed illegally within the demarcated boundary of the river. The dockyard owners include members of parliament, union parishad chairmen and local Awami League leaders.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) officials say that because powerful people are the owners of these dockyards, they cannot be removed. They use their influence to keep their dockyards in place illegally.

An on-the-spot visit to the area last month saw a cold storage had been established on the Buriganga banks at the Apish grounds area. From this cold storage, along Char Khejurbagh up till Telghat, these dockyards have been set up on the land of the Shubhadhya canal and the river. As a result, the width of the river has narrowed from the Apish grounds to Telghat.

Jatiya Party MP of Barishad-3, Golam Kibria (Tipu) owns two the dockyards there. Another two are owned by the Shubhadhya union parishad chairman and Dhaka district Awami League joint secretary Iqbal Hossain. Another one of the dockyards is controlled by a powerful MP of the southwest region, it was learnt. The remaining owners are not directly involved in politics but are also powerful.

The MP Golam Kibria is known to be influential in the dockyard and launch business. Speaking to Prothom Alo on 23 May at his office in Naya Paltan, Dhaka, he said his two dockyards had been built on privately owned property. He said he repaid the bank loan taken by the owner of the land and bought the land himself. He claimed that the other dockyards had also been built on private property. He said a court order was in place in this regard and so when the shipping authorities came at various times, they had to return without evicting these businesses.

The BIWTA director (additional duty) AKM Arif Uddin had a different narrative. He told Prothom Alo that the dockyards at Shubhodhya had been established illegally. There had been a court ruling regarding the ownership of these establishments, but that was later annulled. The dockyards have actually been constructed within the river's demarcating boundary pillars.

In September 2020, during a meeting with BIWTA, the state minister for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury had said that he had issued orders for all dockyards to be removed from Keraniganj. It has been three and a half years since then, but nothing has been done.

When asked why the authorities are not taking any measures, the BIWRA officials say that the dockyard owners insist that this area in Keraniganj is the best place for ship building. If the dockyards are removed, this will have an adverse effect on ship building and repairs. That is why there has been no move so far to remove and relocate these dockyards.

The government is reportedly taking up a project to relocate these dockyards. BIWTA chairman Commodore Arif Ahmed Mostafa told Prothom Alo that the government's decision is to relocate these dockyards. They will be removed from here and rehabilitated. He said, the placement of pillars here started in 2012-14, but these establishments had been set up long before that.

A visit to the spot revealed that even though it had not been possible to remove these 27 dockyards from within the river's boundaries, officials of the shipping department had easily demolished a building of Char Mirerbagh Government primary School there. The school had been constructed along the river at the pillar 9 and 10 points. It was demolished in 2019.

Yet just a bit along the way east from this school, the Cumilla Dockyard has been established between pillars 11 and 12. To the west of the school too there is a dockyard. In this stretch there are other dockyards belonging to the local Shubhadhya union chairman Iqbal Hossain, his brothers Sohel Reza and Baser Uddin.

Iqbal Hossain is Dhaka district Awami League joint secretary. One of his brothers, Sohel Reza, is the South Keraniganj Awami League organising secretary. Another brother Baser Uddin is the Shubhadhya union Awami League president. Shubhadhya union parishad chairman Iqbal Hossain is also the president of the Keraniganj Dockyard Owners Association.

Several attempts were made to contact the Shubhadhya union parishad chairman Iqbal Hossain regarding these matters, but he was unavailable. He did not respond to SMS sent to him in this regard either. However, Iqbal Hossain's brother Sohel Reza told Prothom Alo that their dockyard was built up on their ancestral land. Previously a fee would be paid to BIWTA for these dockyards, but BIWTA does not take the fee nowadays.

Visiting the spot and speaking to concerned persons, it was gathered that the dockyards were not removed and no initiative was taken to shift them because the owners were powerful persons. They used their influence to illegally keep the dockyards in place. It will not be possible to remove these dockyards unless a stern decision is taken from a high level of the government.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) Rizwana Hasan said the objective of the Supreme Court's ruling  to demarcate the river's boundary  was to remove the illegal encroachers.  Any structures within the boundary pillars cannot be legal. She said, as those involved in constructing the dockyards along Shubhadhya canal and the river are politically powerful, they cannot be evicted. But there is no alternative to eviction in order to save the river. The concerned authorities should remove these establishments in the shortest time possible.