Uzzal Roy, Narail

Illegal structures have become a major obstacle in the construction of the four-lane national highway widening and development project in Narail town.

Due to the complexity of evicting illegal structures on roads and highways, the project work has been slow. Ujjwal Roy, District Representative from Narail, said that although only 60 percent of the encroachers have been evicted, 40 percent of the illegal encroachers are still to be evicted.

Due to this, although the project was supposed to be completed from January 2022 to June 2024, the deadline has been extended to June of this year (2025) due to the obstacles in evicting illegal structures. The extended deadline of the project is less than six months. Still 30 percent of the work is left. As a result, doubts have arisen about the completion of the work within this period. As a result, locals fear that the benefits of this project, which cost about 180 crore taka, will not be available immediately.

According to sources from the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) , as part of the National Highway, the work of the 5.791-kilometer road widening and four-lane upgrade project of the Narail Municipal City section from Malibagh in the suburbs to Sitarampur under the Roads Department began in 2022.

The RHD is implementing the project at a cost of Tk 179.98 crore. The work is being supervised by the 19th ECB of the Bangladesh Army on behalf of the Roads Department. Earlier, on November 23, 2021, the project was approved at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting. The four-lane road runs from Malibagh in Sadar to Narail Municipal City, passes through Sitarampur and connects to the Jessore-Benapole Highway. The work of the four-lane road to relieve traffic congestion in Narail city has been going on at a snail's pace for the past three years since its inception. The reason for this is that the structures on both sides of the road have not yet been removed. In addition, a long time has passed due to the complexity of the case.

Earlier, the RHD took the initiative to demolish various structures for the four-lane road widening work. But several individual markets in Bhavakhali and Rupganj Bazar of Narail Municipality, as well as several markets of Narail Municipality and District Council are under demolition. Despite sending notices and miking, the encroachers have not taken the initiative to remove the illegal structures on the road. For this reason, taking a strict stance on the eviction of structures, the encroached areas of the RHD are being cleared by conducting a joint operation. However, only 60 percent of the encroachers have been evicted.

There is still 40 percent left to evict the illegal encroachers. As a result, due to the drive to evict illegal structures, the work could not be completed on time. As a result, traffic is disrupted and commuters are suffering.

However, the project stakeholders have assured that all the crises will be overcome and the work will be completed quickly before the end of the current extended period. Narail Roads and Highways Department (RHD ) Executive Engineer Md. Nazrul Islam said that despite giving notices at various times to evict illegal establishments in Narail town to move the work forward, 60 percent of the occupants have already been evicted in the drive. Still, 40 percent of the illegal occupants are filing lawsuits to stop the eviction. In addition, traders and people from the market committee have objected to the district administrator, explaining the mistakes of the general occupants to stop the eviction.

If there is a ban on any establishment, market or shop by the High Court, they are being freed from occupation in stages through legal processes. He further said, "Due to these reasons and on the orders of the army, some items of the construction work have been increased, so although the work has been slow, he expressed hope that the work will be completed before the end of the current extended period after overcoming all the crises."