National

Body formed to evict religious structures from riverbanks

The government has constituted a committee to take necessary steps to demolish or relocate unauthorised religious structures built on riverbanks across the country.The convening committee was formed at a meeting on ‘eviction of illegal structures from riverbanks’ held at the Shipping Ministry’s conference room on Wednesday with Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan in the chair.Addition secretary of the ministry Nasir Arif was made convener of the committee, while its joint secretary Nur-Ur-Rahman member secretary.The other members of the committee will be included from the representatives of the Water Resources Ministry, Land Ministry, Housing and Public Works Ministry, Religion Affairs Ministry, River-Police, Islamic Foundation, Ulama Mashayekh, Religious Welfare Trust and Deputy Commissioners’ offices and Police Super’s offices.The convening body will work across the country in this regard and will submit its report to the Shipping Ministry within the next one month.Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Shipping Secretary Shafique Alam Mehdi, Water Resources Secretary Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan and senior government officials were present at the meeting.According to official sources, there are some 30 illegal religious structures and seminaries in the Buriganga River in the capital.Meanwhile, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has so far evicted about 4,740 illegal structures from the riverbanks and recovered 215 acres of occupied land across the country.