A local unit of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has once again occupied state-owned land belonging to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in Bogura to erect a party office. The newly constructed tin-roofed structure, featuring a half-brick wall painted green, sits on roughly five decimals of highway land directly adjacent to the Youth Development Directorate near the Tinmatha Railgate area. A banner proclaiming the site as the office for the 15th Ward BNP under the Bogura Metropolitan unit hangs prominently along the busy Bogura-Rangpur highway.
Local records indicate that the plot has been the focus of persistent land grabbing and repeated official demolitions spanning more than two decades. The site was first occupied in 2003 by the Fapor Union unit of the BNP. Following widespread public criticism over the encroachment, the structure was voluntarily dismantled in 2005 on the direct instructions of senior party leader Tarique Rahman.
Over the subsequent years under the Awami League administration, local activists made several attempts to re-establish a party presence on the land. Each attempt was met with swift intervention from the RHD, which routinely cleared the unauthorized constructions. In 2022, after another makeshift office was erected, the RHD bulldozed the structure to make way for essential highway widening works.
Despite being evicted at least six times over the past twenty years, local party leaders reoccupied the plot following political developments after 5 August 2024. Following the administrative reclassification that accompanied the declaration of Bogura as a City Corporation on 20 April, the site was rebranded with new signage designating it as the 15th Ward BNP headquarters.
Addressing the situation, Kamal Hossain, General Secretary of Fapor Union BNP, acknowledged that the office sits on unused RHD property, confirming its long history of building attempts and subsequent clearances. He noted that following the creation of the new municipality ward, the structure was repurposed to serve as the 15th Ward office.
Faced with mounting scrutiny, local ward officials have indicated a readiness to step back. Emdadul Haq Milon, General Secretary of the 15th Ward BNP, stated that the office would be shifted away from the highway land. Abdul Mannan, President of the 15th Ward unit, openly conceded that the structure stands on government property, noting that the party had seen it demolished six times previously and would dismantle it again if it inconvenienced the public.
Senior metropolitan leadership distanced themselves from the illegal construction. Moniruzzaman Moni, General Secretary of Bogura Metropolitan BNP, clarified that central leadership maintains explicit directives prohibiting party offices on public land, promising that those responsible would be ordered to clear the site immediately. Hamidul Haq Chowdhury Hiru, President of Bogura Metropolitan BNP and Vice-President of the district unit, confirmed he would order an immediate investigation and ensure the land is vacated.
Rashedul Haq, Executive Engineer of the RHD in Bogura, reiterated that no unauthorized private or political structures are permitted within highway boundaries. He confirmed that engineering officials would perform an on-site inspection to initiate formal legal and eviction proceedings to recover the public land.
