Don’t take their source of livelihood
Govt urged to not acquire 300 acres of land in Khulna
Eight environmentalist organisations yesterday collectively sent a letter to 10 government agencies, urging them to refrain from acquiring 300 acres of agricultural land at Banishanta union of Khulna's Dacope upazila.
In the letter, they said the 300 acres of land is the only source of livelihood of farmers of the area, but a proposal has been placed under the Mongla Port Inner Dredging Project to dump sand on the land.
The initiative for acquisition is against the prime minister's announcement to protect agricultural land, the letter said, adding that the initiative has been taken without assessing the real environmental impact and social effects.
The signatories of the letter are Sultana Kamal, human rights activist and president of Bangladesh Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa); Shamsul Huda, executive director of ALRD; Khushi Kabir, coordinator and leader of Nijera Kori; Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh; Golam Manar Kamal, executive director of Ain o Shaish Kendra; Advocate Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive at Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association; Sara Hossain, lawyer and honorary director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, and Asif Saleh, executive director of Brac.
The letter was sent to secretaries at the ministries of land, environment and climate change, and agriculture; chairman of Mongla Port Authority; director general of Department of Environment (DoE); deputy commissioner and superintendent of Khulna; upazila nirbahi officer of Dacope; director of Khulna divisional office under DoE; and land acquisition officer of Khulna.