Of coercion and collusion!
A private company has been coercing farmers to sell cropland to set up a power plant at Bhabanipur village in Hemayetpur union of Pabna Sadar upazila, locals have alleged.
The company--Paramount Holdings Ltd--has set up its signboards on over 100 plots in the shoal and fenced up a large area, claiming ownership of the land.
Different types of crops, including banana, wheat, and pulses, are grown in the shoal round the year.
"This year, I cultivated Banana on around 12 bighas of land. But I don't know whether I will be able to keep the farm, as the company is gradually occupying the entire shoal," said Hafizul, a local farmer.
"We have four bighas of land, jointly owned by four brothers. None of us sold the land, but a man hiding his identity has sold 26 decimals of the land to the company. The company people fenced up the entire land," said Alam Mridha, another farmer.
When they went to the company office demanding an explanation, the company officials asked the brothers to sell their share.
"But we refused," he said.
Many of the villagers do not have updated legal documents of their inherited land. Taking advantage of the situation, the company is targeting such disputed land, buying them at a low price and then occupying the adjacent area, victims alleged.
Villagers said the company has engaged some influential people as brokers, who forced many to sell their land at a low price.
Asked about this, Union Parishad Chairman Jahangir Alam Khan said former UP chairman Md Alauddin and Pabna Sadar upazila parishad's incumbent Chairman Mosharaf Hossain were coercing farmers to sell their land to the company.
Mosharaf admitted helping the company to buy land legally, but brushed off the allegation that farmers were being forced to give up their land.
Alauddin also refuted the locals' claim, saying, "We are not helping anyone occupy the land. In most cases, farmers have sold their land and are now blaming us in efforts to get additional money."
Paramount Holdings Ltd's legal adviser Haripada Deb denied that they were buying cropland.
"We are buying land at a fair price only from those who want to sell their land willingly. We have fenced up only the area of land that we already bought or made advance payments to buy it," he said.
"We have a target to buy around 300 acres of land to set up a power plant here. We have already bought around 150 acres," he said.
He claimed the land they were buying was not suitable for cultivation.
Meanwhile, farmers have lodged complaints with the deputy commissioner (DC), the local lawmaker and other authorities concerned.
Following the complaint, lawmaker of Pabna-5 constituency Golam Faruk Prince visited the area on March 16. At that time, farmers staged an agitation in front of him.
Contacted, DC Bishwas Russel Hossain said he was aware of the allegation and asked the local administration to investigate it.
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