Rajdhani Unnyan Kartripakkhya (Rajuk) carried out an eviction drive to retrieve the land along the Hatirjheel Lake at the east end of Gulshan-Mohakhali link road.

Rajuk demolished all illegal structures including automobile workshops, makeshift shops and houses from the boundary of the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution plant up to office of Lal Sabuj, a newspaper.

But two hours after the eviction team departed, the occupants returned and put up signboards claiming ownership.

When asked why Rajuk did not take possession of the land following demolition, chief engineer Emdadul Islam said: "We will carry out further demolition and take possession soon after the ongoing hartal."

Shah Didarul Alam Shamim, Rajuk's executive engineer who led the eviction drive, explained why they had to wait for the next drive to take over the land.

"It is not possible to take possession in one drive. We will carry out at least three more drives to retrieve public property,” he said.

While the demolition was going on, Shamim was suddenly heard to order his men to stop the drive.

When this correspondent asked him why the drive was stopped, Shamim said that they were tired and going to have meal. “We will continue the drive during next three four days," he said.

But to the same question he later said: "We had some administrative difficulties and had to release the police force at once."

There was no magistrate in sight during demolition and none of the Rajuk staff present could identify the magistrate.

Neither could Shamim nor the Superintendent (Law) Helal Mahmud Miraz could name the magistrate.

"We took a magistrate from the Deputy Commissioner's (DC) office but I don't know his name," Miraz said.

Shamim further said that they could not demolish makeshift residential settlements on the fringe of the lake as the equipment were too heavy to be taken there.

"We will bring down these structures and all the signboards on the land in our next drive very soon," he said.

As to why they did not demolish a small concrete structure claimed to be a "shrine" of some Majnu Shah, Shamim said that since it was a sensitive issue, they would first verify if it were really a shrine.

Eight family members of late Majnu Shah, who occupy around an acre of this land, have been running automobile workshops along the Badda link road and renting space for makeshift slums on the fringe of the lake for some years now, locals said.

"We have been fighting legally with Rajuk over landownership," said Abul Bashar Badsha, Maznu's brother.

Badsha's nephew Kawsar said that the Joint District Judge's court, Dhaka has issued an injunction on the land ownership dispute.

But Rajuk's chief engineer, Islam said they could not produce any genuine documents of ownership or injunction on the day of eviction.

The present occupiers had procured some backdated documents in connivance with a corrupt section of the land registry office, he said.

Executive Engineer Shamim said that there was no court injunction and the cases they mentioned were fake.

Occupants of another part of the land have not only fenced it, but have erected two new signboards -- one claiming the plot belongs to Nirman International Limited and another that a case filed against Rajuk by one MA Siddiq is pending and that the joint district judge's court has issued an injunction.

The then Dhaka Improvement Trust (DIT) acquired the land from its original owners known as Dorjees in 1962, who were duly compensated by the government, said Emdadul Islam.

But a number of land grabbers have arranged fake documents in support of their claim for land ownership. Once land is acquired and affected compensated, the land belongs to government.

A government agency that requisitions land known as Recurrent Body (RB) fails to utilise the acquired land for any reason, land will be treated as 'vested property' meaning in possession of the government.

Rajuk will incorporate the reclaimed land in its Hatirjheel Lake Development Scheme soon, Islam said, adding that the area has turned into a den of criminals.

When attention of the Public Works secretary Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury was drawn to the issue, he said, "We will take possession of whatever land we have there."