Batali Hill shanties evicted

Chittagong, July 13 (bdnews24.com) ? Bangladesh Railway (BR) has evicted the risky shanties from the nearby areas of the collapsed retention wall of the Batali Hill in the port city.

With the help of the police and Government Railway Police (GRP) members, Chittagong divisional estate officer of railway Rashid Ahmed conducted the eviction drive from 10:30am to 1pm on Wednesday.

Assistant estate officer of railway's east zone Mohammad Abdul Bari told bdnews24.com that they evicted 40 risky shanties.

He said structures of the shanties were demolished.

A rain-induced mudslide at the bottom of the Batali Hill in Tiger Pass intersection of the port city left 17 people of three families dead on July 1.

The government committee formed following the incident to investigate the tragedy found the landslide occurred due to the poor quality of the retaining wall built to protect the hill.

Besides, rampant hill-cutting exposed the people living on its slopes to high degree of risk.

The committee suggested directing the settlers on the bottom of the government-owned hill to relocate their shanties.

bdnews24.com/mc/skb/ssr/2345h

View the original article here