Local traders have formed a human chain in protest against the construction of a passenger station by filling in a canal in Sonapur, Noakhali Municipality.

On Wednesday (September 10), traders in Sonapur Bazar held the human chain on the Sonapur-University of Technology road at noon.

At that time, the traders said that in 2019, the district administration demolished more than a hundred shops from Sonapur Zero Point to the east and south, saying that a canal was being dug. In the larger interest, traders are cooperating with the administration in such initiatives. But since then, empty spaces have been occupied anonymously in the name of empty spaces.

For the past few days, the Noakhali Municipality has been filling in the canal to build a passenger station. The traders allege that an unscrupulous group, including the Noakhali Municipality secretary, is occupying empty spaces in the name of building a passenger station.

They demanded that new encroachments be stopped without rehabilitating the affected traders.

The human chain was addressed by freedom fighter Fazlul Haque Badal, GS of Sonapur College Student Union Abduzzaher Harun, affected businessmen Gias Uddin Mihir and Iftekhar Hossain Iftu, among others.

However, denying the allegations, Noakhali Municipality Secretary Md. Alauddin said that the allegations made by the traders are not true.

The municipality is constructing a passenger shelter for the public interest on the banks of the canal and next to the road at Sonapur Zero Point.