Land-related services in dire straits
It is a reality commonly acknowledged that land administration in the country is fraught with corruption and inefficiencies, making it difficult for people to access land-related services and resolve disputes over land. According to a recent report by the Transparency International Bangladesh, people have to pay bribes starting from Tk 100 to Tk 20 lakh at different steps of the process to avail land related services, which highlight the unacceptable extent to which governance and accountability mechanisms are absent in this important sector. Sometimes corruption may also take the form of underhand dealings between influential political leaders and land officials to record khas land, vested and abandoned properties or properties of courts of wards in their name. With "papers" to back their claims, these vested quarters can then easily grab vast areas of land, evicting vulnerable people, including Hindu and landless families, from their homes.
Despite numerous policy measures to modernise and improve land administration and management services over the years, land offices remain a bureaucratic nightmare, with people having to follow eight steps for land registration and another 10 steps for mutation of land. To address the dire state of the sector, the government ought to streamline land administration and simplify the procedures. The land offices must be brought into 21st century and a coordinated, digitalised system be instituted for a more efficient and transparent sector. Monitoring mechanisms, currently lacking, must be put in place, and the severe manpower shortage – as evidenced by 8800 vacant positions – must be addressed if we are to change the way the land offices currently operate.
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