Vast areas of govt land illegally occupied
Most of the 3,602 acres of relief ministry land in Nilphamari under illegal occupation
Local influential people have occupied almost all the 3,602 acres of land, worth around Tk 500 crore, belonging to relief and disaster management ministry in four upazilas of the district and built residential buildings, business centres and many other structures due to lack of proper monitoring by the department concerned.
The then Pakistan government acquired the land in between 1947 and 1952 to rehabilitate refugees migrated from India in face of communal violence, said Ansar Ali, senior office assistant of district relief and disaster management office.
Of the total land, 3,031.83 acres were acquired in Dimla upazila, 543.10 acres in Sadar upazila, 22.66 acres in Jaldhaka and 4.41 acres in Saidpur upazila, he added.
Sadar Upazila Parishad Chairman Abu Jar Rahman said a good number of refugees were given shelter in a portion of the acquired land while most of the land remained unutilised till independence of Bangladesh in 1971.
After the liberation, a section of unscrupulous people in cooperation with some dishonest land officials gradually occupied the rest of the unused land and started handing over those to others in exchange for money.
Itakhola UP member Anwar Ali Fakir said despite submission of a number of written complaints to the authorities concerned no step has been taken against the illegal occupiers.
During a recent visit to Dimla upazila this correspondent saw that Babulur Rahman, 50, son of late Fazaluddin, was erecting a magnificent building on a land belonging to the relief ministry.
Purbo Satnai union Assistant Land Officer Gonesh Chandra Roy said he informed the higher authority about the construction work a couple of months ago and upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) concerned stopped the construction after visiting the spot.
Babulur, who restarted the construction work again after a couple of weeks, said he purchased the land legally from its former owner through registered deed.
Like Babulur, Tajubur Rahman, Hazera Begum, Faizal Hossain and many others on the area illegally erected brick-built houses on government land.
District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman said his department paid a total of Tk 86 lakh as revenue against the land in 2017-2018 fiscal years and after getting directives from the higher authorities they will launch an eviction drive soon.