Eviction drive started against illegal occupiers at Chattogram hills at adjacent to Bayezid-Fouzdarhat link road on Monday.  
The Department of Environment along with district administration, law enforcement agencies, fire service and concerned government authorities started the combined drives at about 10:30am.  
Six executive magistrates of Chattogram district administration led the eviction drive at three points.  
DoE deputy director (Chattogram metropolitan) Mia Mahmudul Hoque told New Age that they started the eviction drives and it would be continued.  
Around 15 illegal occupiers were evicted till 12:00pm, he said.  
However, sudden rain disrupted the eviction drive in the area at about 12:00pm. 
The department of environment, in a meeting at Chattogram DoE office on June 9, decided to start drives against illegal occupiers of hills.  
About three lakh people are now living at the hills and hill slopes in Chattogram city and its nearby areas, according to a study conducted two years ago.  
Experts fear landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rain as many of the houses on the hills and hill slopes are highly risky for living.  
However, an assessment made by the Chattogram district administration in 2018 disclosed that about 1,600 families were living at 18 hills in Chattogram.