62,537 acres of khas land grabbed

Grabbers occupy around 62,537 acres of khas land across the country, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury told parliament yesterday.

Of the land, the highest 24,859 acres are in Chattogram division, 15,054 in Dhaka division, 7,388 in Rangpur division, 5,165 in Sylhet division, 4,070 in Barishal division, 3,446 in Khulna division, and 1,162 in Rajshahi division, he said.

The minister came up with the statistics in reply to a question from Chattogram-4 Awami League lawmaker Didarul Alam.

In a scripted answer, Saifuzzaman said the government has taken various measures to recover the land from the grabbers.

He said all deputy commissioners were given directives to recover the land.

The measures include conducting eviction drives against the grabbers, amending the record of khas land registered as the land of individuals in RS, BS or City Records, and preparing a list of grabbers.

Meanwhile, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq told the House that 1,89,311 freedom fighters were getting monthly honorarium, as the present government was taking various steps for their wellbeing.

“As continuation of the welfare activities for the freedom fighters, the government has increased their allowance amount several times,” he said while answering a question from treasury bench MP Rubina Akter.

A freedom fighter is getting Tk 12,000 a month from 2019-20 fiscal year along with two festival allowances of Tk 10,000 each, he said.

“The freedom fighters and their family members are also getting Tk 2,000 as Bangla new year allowance in the present financial year along with the state honorarium. An alive freedom fighter is also getting Tk 5,000 as the victory day allowance,” the minister said.