State minister for law Qamrul Islam said on Saturday that illegal grabbing of khas land by lawmakers, belonging to both the Awami League and the BNP, is a major hurdle to ensure the poor’s right to land. “No one who has been a lawmaker for a long time, is out of this process and this applies to lawmakers belonging to both the Awami League and the BNP,” he said. The minister was addressing a conference, “Accessibility of Poor and Extreme Poor People to khas land: Existing Constraints and Way-Forward”, organised by Care Bangladesh at a city hotel.
Referring to the intimidation and corruption in the exploitation of the country’s khas land, the minister lambasted the role of lawmakers and their involvement in grabbing khas land.
Conducted by Boishakhi Television CEO Monzurul Ahsan Bulbul, the conference was also addressed by land minister Rezaul Karim Hira, Care Bangladesh country director Jamie Terzi and information commissioner Professor Sadeka Halim.
Chief guest Rezaul Karim Hira said he had been working hard to improve the transparency of the land administration.
Qamrul also observed that the real acreage of khas land in the country is at least two-three times higher than the acreage shown in government land records, blaming the anomaly on the failure of the land administration to gather proper, adequate and timely information.
Besides political leaders, the minister pointed fingers at a group of land grabbers who do not belong to any political party. “With every change in state power, they change sides to be able to come up with new schemes to grab more khas land,” he said, adding that most of the housing companies are run by these “land mafia”.
Acting in cahoots with corrupt land officials, particularly assistant commissioners (lands) in case of khas land, they (land grabbers) come up with false deeds and documents related to allotment of khas land, he observed.
The land ministry needs to address the problem with a strong hand and must initiate tough monitoring of the land documents authorised by assistant commissioners, said Qamrul. According to official records, the country has about 33 lakh acres of khas land and the number of landless families is estimated at 70 lakh.
Commenting on Qamrul’s allegation regarding the grabbing of khas lands by lawmakers from both the ruling party and the opposition, AL lawmaker Nasrul Hamid said that if any law maker was involved in grabbing khas land, it is the duty of the state to take action against him. A lawmaker is not above law. If one knows that a lawmaker is grabbing Khas land, what stops him from taking action against that law maker as grabbing khal land is totally illegal,” Nasrul told The Independent.
On the other hand, opposition chief whip Joynal Abedin Faruk said that he is not aware of any incident of grabbing khas land by any opposition BNP lawmakers.
-With The Independent input
