Chattogram district administration is going to take a stringent move soon to stop unauthorised use of power, gas and water in the hilly areas.
The authorities will identify the utility lines in possession of the unauthorised hill dwellers and will cut off them to prevent sizeable revenue losses the power, gas and water supply agencies have been incurring for years.
Sources said concerning the issue, the Chattogram district administration held a meeting at the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) on Thursday afternoon.
Additional DC (Revenue) Mohammed Najmul Ahasan chaired the meeting where Assistant Engineer of Power Development Board (PDB) Md Jahangir Alam, Deputy Divisional Engineer of PDB Mobasher M Hossain, deputy assistant engineers of Chattogram WASA Bikash Chandra Nath and Md Jahangir Alam, Deputy Manager of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL) Rafat Hasan and Assistant Engineer of PDB Toufiqul alam were present.
The meeting decided to identify the unauthorised water, power and gas connections in the illegally set up structures in the hills by February 20.
Later, the authorities will start snapping the unauthorised utility connections by February 22.
Besides, the administration took the decision to start evicting the illegal occupiers from hills in the last week of the current month.
The meeting gave necessary directives to the PDB, Chattogram WASA and KGDCL in this regard.
Additional DC (Revenue) Mohammed Najmul Ahasan said, "The drive will continue until the hills and hillsides are cleared of even a single illegal structure."
He added vested quarters constructed buildings and houses in the hills without authorisation and hundreds of families are living there amid high risk of landslide.
The district administration will stop all the utility services to the illegal hill dwellers and later evict them from there, in a bid to save human lives from possible disaster.
The hills and hillsides where the authorities will launch the crackdown include CRB hills, Tigerpass hills, Lalkhan Bazar hills, Mojaffarnagar hills, Kattoli to Sitakunda hills, Salimpur Bastuhara hills, Probortok hills, Gol Pahar hills, Ispahani hills, Forestry Research Institute hills, Joy Pahar hills, Chatteshewri hills, Motijhorna hills, Batali hills, Railway Emplyees Girls High School hills, Foy's Lake Residential Area hills, Jalalabad hills, Garibullah Shaha Majar hills, Baitul Aman Housing Society hills, Cheragi Pahar hills, Chattogram City Corporation hills, DoE office hills, AK Khan hills, Chattogram University hills, Kobillyo Dham Biswa Colony hills, Miar Pahar, Chanmari Road Hills, Lake City R/A hills, Mir Mohammed Hasan hills, Nasirabad I/A hills and Blosom Garden hills.
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