DHAKA, – State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury has said that the government is progressing in right track to make river banks free from illegal grabbers as none would be allowed to get scope of development by encroaching river flow zones.

“The High Court as well as the countrymen is satisfied with the eviction activities unleashed by Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA),” he said while visiting BIWTA’s floating dock at Shyampur in the city on Wednesday.

The government is not preferring development by grabbing riverside lands, he said, adding “none will get such scope of development by encroaching the land designated of the river.”

Khalid said : “Although the eviction drive is apparently slow due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it [eviction drive] is now going on. The eviction will be carried out continuously, “he added.

The boundary of the river bank has been marked out. “We want to retrieve the river land,” he detailed.

During the visit, the state minister undocked the ‘Drubotara’, a BIWTA ship which is assigned for placing buoys on the river route for smooth plying of the river vessels from the BIWTA’s floating dock, built in Germany in 1967 and brought to Bangladesh in 1968.

The moving floating dock, finally has been set up at Syampur after moving it from Barishal in 2002, a total of seventy-five river vessels so far have been docked and undocked since 2010.
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BIWTA Chairman Commodore Golam Sadeque was also present.