By establishing a reign of terror in Mirzaganj of Patuakhali, two brothers occupied the government canal for a long time and cultivated vegetables on both sides of the road along with fishing for about one kilometer. Fed up with their torture, the villagers have written a complaint to the District Commissioner with mass signatures demanding legal action.
On Monday (March 27), it was seen that the Wapda road has gone from Mirzaganj to Kanki along the western bank of Payra river in the upazila. In this, the mouth of the Bhatichira Rentani Canal, which is connected to No. 1 Madhavakhali Union and No. 2 Mirzaganj Union, is blocked. Shahid Sikder (45) and Noor Mohammad Sikder (35), sons of local Chohrab Sikder, who got the benefit of blocking the canal, started fish farming and although they have no land on the side of the road adjacent to the canal, they have been cultivating various types of plants and vegetables. When the mother and sisters used to travel through that road in the morning and afternoon, they also tortured them. A case under the Women and Children Torture Act (571/2010) is ongoing in the Patuakhali learned court. They even destroyed these plants and vegetables themselves and instead filed a complaint (memorandum no-152) in the Upazila Parishad to implicate the local residents in a false case. Recently, due to previous enmity with the people of the house, the two brothers have been jailed in the case of stabbing local Ismail Hossain’s son Saiful in the dark of night. There are also complaints that if these plants or vegetables are eaten by the villagers’ cows and goats, they receive a hefty fine from the villagers.
A day laborer named Zafar Molla said, I have an exchange agreement with me for 600 taka per day. They went to Kanthaltali market and beat me in front of many people including Habib Chowkidar, Sohag Dafadar, Shahjahan Hawladar and made me 500 taka daily. They are so bad. Disabled Sohag Mridha said, we cannot lease the land next to this road. They threaten us with that. However, denying the complaint, the occupant Noor Mohammad Shikder said, the then upazila agriculture officer asked us to cultivate them. Those whose land is next to the road did not block it then. Now if they want they will plant trees on their land along the road. When asked about the occupation of the canal, he said, “If the government provides a sluice gate here, we will cut our own dam and create water flow, and it will also help us to cultivate the land.” When asked about blocking the flow of water by damming the mouth of the government canal through Wapdar road, former chairman Amir Hossain said that it was not possible to install a sluice gate at the mouth of the canal due to insufficient money in the Wapdar fund at that time. If the embankment road was not constructed, the residents would have been affected by the flood. So I built the road. If asked about this, Mirzaganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer (A.D.) Md. Saifur Rahman said, received a complaint letter signed by the villagers regarding the occupation of the canal. No one can cultivate fish by occupying government land and canals. Appropriate action will be taken subject to investigation.
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