Gazipur authorities destroy dredger over illegal waterbody filling

The district administration conducted a drive in Ujirpur area of Gazipur city on Sunday over allegations of filling waterbodies and agricultural land without permission, destroying a dredger allegedly used in the illegal operation.

The drive was carried out around 6pm in the Balu River area of Ward No. 41.

Gazipur Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sazzat Hossain said a company named Milestone had been using a dredger to extract sand from the Balu River and transport it through pipelines to fill waterbodies and agricultural land without approval from the district administration.

He said the authorities had previously instructed those involved to stop the filling activities, but the work continued in defiance of the order.

When the mobile court began its drive on Sunday evening, the dredger owner and others involved fled the scene. The administration subsequently disabled and destroyed the dredger used in the operation, the UNO added.

According to the administration, the illegal filling was first detected on September 9 on land recorded as paddy land under RS plot No. 1205 of Puba il mouza No. 102, under the Puba il Land Office. The land, listed under RS khatian No. 285, is currently submerged and classified as an open waterbody.

During a field inspection, Puba il Land Office assistant land officer Mohammad Ali Hossain found allegations against Manjurul Islam Sumon over the unauthorised filling of the waterbody. Although work was ordered to stop immediately, filling allegedly continued at night and during office holidays. The matter was reported in writing to senior authorities on September 10.

A mobile court was subsequently arranged under the leadership of the Gazipur Sadar assistant commissioner (land), following instructions from Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Md Nurul Karim Bhuiyan.

Gazipur Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Md Shahriar Nazir said the administration would not tolerate unauthorised waterbody filling or attempts to destroy natural waterbodies under the guise of housing projects.

He said regular drives would be conducted to stop illegal filling and legal action would be taken against those involved.