Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) rounded off its operation by clearing only slums, tin-sheds, small shops and other businesses run by the poor, but leaving most buildings of influential people untouched.

The setbacks in the drive were blamed on the deputy commissioner's (DC) office' incapacity to deploy a magistrate for more than a week and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP)'s inability to provide 80 policemen during Ramadan.

"We have dismantled parts of the buildings like Alam Tower, Zilla Parishad Market, but we could not do more because of inadequate police force, lack of manpower and resistance from encroachers," a BIWTA high official said.

The authorities destroyed part of Alam Tower on the riverbank in Keraniganj to construct a 30-foot wide road under a circular waterway project.

"Alam Tower gobbled about 25 feet into the Buriganga," said an engineer involved with the anti-encroachment drive that drew support from environment activists.

"We have dismantled Haji Kamal's building partially at Swarighat. We have tried to construct an ansar camp on reclaimed 20 square feet to watch encroachment, but Kamal is preventing us doing so," a BIWTA high official said.

The drive hit snags when 'landowners' showed tax papers and other relevant documents from the land records office, trying to prove that they paid taxes on their land.

It is alleged that the authorities leased the land out underhand. When people showed documents to stake a claim to the ownership of land or High Court stay orders, the DC office could not do anything.

"Our role is limited to reclaiming the land from encroachment on the Buriganaga. The BIWTA marks the area for clearing and our magistrates just follow," DC MA Momen said.

"The parts of the Buriganga, occupied by Sena Kalyan Sangstha, private dockyards, brickfields and markets could not be recovered from encroachment because of the cases," the BIWTA official said.

Encroachers bounced back to reconstruct the demolished structures after the drive ended. At least 25 cases were filed against the BIWTA and re-encroachment is going on.

The environment activists demanded a continuous drive to save the Buriganga from encroachers and construction of a walkway to demarcate the recovered area to stave off re-encroachment.

The BIWTA is planning to resume its drive after the Eid-ul-Fitr. If the BIWTA does not get a court verdict in its favour, the second round will also fizzle out, a local resident said.