The Ministry of Railways has said efforts are underway to recover all the encroached land of the Bangladesh Railway (BR) as 3,024 acres of land have so far been occupied illegally by the encroachers.
The ministry formally revealed this at the second meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of railways held on Monday at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban here with committee chairman Mohammad Ali Asgar in the chair.
As the BR have a total of 63,072 acres of land across the country.
Similarly, the ministry has also leased 25,083 acres of land, earning Taka 87.72 crore from the lease in the last fiscal year.
According to the land management rules, the ministry will ensure the planned use of the unused land under the Bangladesh Railway through lease and licensing and it is an ongoing process.
Recently the railway has started the use of railway state management software for proper land management as the system will help to ensure planned used of the unused land and recovering all the occupied land of the department.
A special committee will be formed in the Pakshi and Lalmonirhat divisions under the Western Zone's Estate Department of Bangladesh Railway, led by the divisional estate officers.
Illegally occupied land will be identified within the next three months and measures will be taken to remove illegal structures in phases.
On the other hand, special drives will be conducted in coordination with the district administrations and police departments of the districts under the Western Zone to curb potential drug-related crimes on railway land.
The meeting also discussed selling of the online railway tickets and how to eliminate smuggling of e-ticket selling by the railway.
At the meeting, reports were presented on the total land owned by Bangladesh Railway, leased land, revenue from leased land, illegally occupied land, and land-related cases.
The meeting also discussed measures taken to ensure transparency in the online railway ticketing system.
The meeting also said that container transportation is being carried out regularly on the Chattogram–Dhaka route. In addition, fuel and food grains are being transported to various destinations.
However, the number of freight trains has decreased due to a current shortage of meter-gauge locomotives in the Bangladesh Railway fleet.
Recently, the Development Project Proposal (DPP) for the procurement of 30 meter-gauge locomotives has been approved.
In addition, a tender has been invited for the procurement of another 30 meter-gauge locomotives approved earlier.
With the procurement of a total of 60 meter-gauge locomotives by 2029, it will be possible to increase the number of freight trains carrying containers, fuel, food grains and other goods.
The ministry report added that a total of 200 broad-gauge coaches will soon be added to the Bangladesh Railway fleet in phases.
Of these, 18 coaches have already arrived. A decision on operating trains on the Mongla–Dhaka route will be made subject to the availability of broad-gauge coaches.
Technology company Shohoz.com is currently responsible for online ticket sales and management for Bangladesh Railway.
Preparations are underway to invite a fresh tender to appoint a vendor for online ticket management before the existing contract between Bangladesh Railway and Shohoz.com expires in February next year, the JS committee meeting added.
The other committee members including State Minister for Road Transport and Bridges and Railways Habibur Rashid, Abdul Muhit Talukder MP, Esrat Sultana Elen Bhutto MP, and Muhammad Azizur Rahman MP, among others, attended the meeting.