Bangladesh Railway (BR) has clarified that a temporary mandap was removed from its land in Khilkhet area on Thursday after completing all legal procedures.
“Attempts to spread confusion are being observed in different media regarding the removal of a temporary mandap from railway land in the city’s Khilkhet area,” said a statement issued by the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing this morning.
In the statement, Railways Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said, "Last year, during the Durga Puja, some people built a puja mandap on railway land in Khilkhet without any permission. Later, they were allowed to hold puja on a condition that the mandap be removed after the puja."
He said the puja organisers promised the railways authorities that they would remove the mandap after the puja but despite repeated requests, they did not remove the mandap after the puja.
On contrary, the adviser said, the organisers took an initiative to establish a permanent temple there.
“Although they were repeatedly asked to refrain from such efforts, the puja organisers did not pay heed to it," he said.
Fouzul Kabir said to make the public property free from illegal encroachment in the wake of such situation, the temporary mandap was removed from the railway land in Khilkhet area on Thursday after completing all legal procedures.
The railway authorities said at first, over a hundred of shops, political party offices and a kitchen market were evicted from the land and finally the temporary mandap was removed. The idol of the temporary mandap was immersed in the Balu River with due respect.
The railway authorities called upon all to refrain from any kind of misleading and provocative acts to this end.