'Frame policy to rehabilitate affected people'
A national policy should be framed to rehabilitate the people displaced by land acquisition with adequate compensation and care, speakers at a conference said yesterday.
BRAC Development Institute (BDI) organised the two-day international conference on 'Land Acquisition and Resettlement: Balancing Development with Justice' at a city hotel.
It is vital to resettle the affected people with appropriate value of the acquired land and compensation for loss of livelihoods and homesteads, said State Minister for Land Mostafizur Rahman.
The existing land acquisition ordinance of 1982 has certain flaws and is inadequate to ascertain the compensation of the displaced people, determine land valuation and carry out resettlement, he added.
Dr Zahid Hussain, acting country director of the World Bank, Diana Dalton, acting country representative of the DFID, Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, former advisor to caretaker government, and Prof Syed M Hashemi, director of BDI, also spoke.
The speakers said forced eviction of people to implement a development project bears high political and social costs. It should be done with sensitivity, fair play and adequate compensation.
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