Railways Minister Md. Mazibul Hoque on Saturday told Parliament that nearly 4,400 acres of railway land are under illegal occupation across the country.

 "A total of 4,391.39 acres out of 61,820.97 acres of railway land remains illegally occupied by various individuals and institutions," he said replying to a tabled starred question from Awami League MP Pinu Khan (Reserved Seat-23).

Noting that it is a continuous process to conduct eviction drive against the occupiers, the minister said 185.25 acres of railway land were freed from illegal occupation in the last 11 months from July, 2015 to May, 2016.

Besides, some 12,504.41 acres of land owned by Bangladesh Railway (BR) remains unused across the country, said Mazibul.

In reply to an un-starred question from AL MP Didarul Alam (Chittagong-4), the railways minister said the Awami League government so far constructed some 235 kilometres new railways after assuming power in 2009.

Responding to another un-starred question from AL MP Abdul Latif (Chittagong-11), he said a total of 13,076 out of 40,268 posts of Bangladesh Railway have been lying vacant.