Govt plans to evict forest grabbers
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change yesterday decided to conduct drives to evict illegal grabbers of protected forest land.
The ministry made the decision in a special meeting presided over by Minister Md Shahab Uddin. They did not reveal any date for the drives.
A total of 1,38,613.06 acres of 33,10,907.52 acres protected forest land have been grabbed by 88,215 individuals and entities, the ministry said in a press release.
Among them, 140 grabbers built factories grabbing 820.34 acres of forest land, while another 5,982 built markets, resorts, farms, and educational institutions grabbing 14,149.17 acres.
Moreover, 82,093 others built houses and turned 1,23,643.55 acres of forest land into farmland, an official of the ministry said.
In the meeting, the ministry decided to start drives in Gazipur, Tangail, Mymensingh, and Cox's Bazar in the first phase.
Later, similar special drives will be conducted in other protected forest areas of the country, the ministry decided.
Deputy Commissioners of 12 districts, which accounts for most of the grabbed forest land, will conduct the drives while joint and deputy secretaries of the ministry will monitor and coordinate, the meeting decided.
The ministry also sought support of local public representatives for the drives.
Deputy Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Habibun Nahar and Ziaul Hasan, secretary of the ministry was present. Many top officials of departments of the ministry, including forest, were in the meeting.
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