Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has conducted eviction drives against occupiers who kept construction materials illegally on footpaths and roads.
The drives were held in order to free the footpaths and city streets for easy movement of the pedestrians and vehicles.
As part of the eviction drive, DNCC officials led by its Mayor Atiqul Isalm on Monday seized construction materials occupying footpaths. Those materials were sold at an immediate auction after the drives.
The mayor said, “Nobody will be allowed to do business keeping construction materials on the roads and footpaths. No matter how powerful you are. You cannot occupy roads and footpaths. Dhaka is the beloved city to all of us. We earn our livelihood from the city. We will not allow anyone to destroy the city.”
He made the remarks while inspecting the drive against illegal construction materials on footpaths and roads in capital’s Gulshan area on the day.
DNCC mobile courts have started conducting the drives simultaneously in 10 areas of DNCC to evict illegal establishments and illegally placed materials from roads and footpaths.
Mayor Atiqul Islam visited Gulshan 86, 87 and 67 no. Road and Banani 15 Road and found bricks and other construction materials were kept on the pavement and roads.
During the visit, Atiqul told the reporters, “We earlier warned city dwellers not to keep any construction material on footpath but they did not pay any heed to our warning. So, we are now conducting such drives at all 10 zones simultaneously.”
He said that roads and footpaths are being damaged due to the bricks, sand, rods kept illegally.
“I am warning that from today (Monday), DNCC will conduct an eviction drive once in a week. I have instructed all officials to auction the construction materials immediately if they find bricks, sand, rods, etc. are kept on footpaths and roads,” he continued.
Regarding illegal billboards, the mayor said, “Signboards and billboards swamped in different parts of the city. No one is taking any permission for the signboard. You can hang a signboard only with the prescribed tax of City Corporation.”
“The removal of signboards will start from 14th September. Our drives will continue,” he added.
Meanwhile, a total of 32 auctions were held in 10 regions of DNCC on Monday to remove illegal construction materials and other materials from roads and sidewalks.
Through these auctions, a total of Tk 1,308,590 were collected and Tk 745,200 were collected as fines. Besides, DNCC evicted some 1,200 illegal establishments, makeshift shops and sheds during the drive.