‘Please find alternative to arable land’

Thirteen eminent citizens yesterday in an "open letter" to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sought her intervention to save about 300 acres of arable land in Banishanta union of Khulna's Dakope upazila from the clutches of a project by Mongla Port authority.As part of the "Inner Bar Dredging of Mongla Port Channel" project, the government took a decision to use about 1,000 acres of land, including 300 acres of arable land, for a landfill with dredged out earth from Pashur river, despite protests from land owners and farmers who depend on the land for their livelihoods. 

In 2011 and 2021-2022, arable lands were filled with dredged-out earth in Chila union of Mongla, where no crops have been grown since, they said in the letter.

They said local administration started the process of "requisition" without consulting local farmers.

It is possible to find an alternative without affecting the locals' livelihood, the letter read. The citizens urged the PM for her intervention to identify non-arable land for the project after consulting local public representatives, Khulna DC, farmers and experts.

The eminent citizens are Sultana Kamal, Khushi Kabir, Rasheda K Chowdhury, Iftekharuzzaman, Mubasshar Hussain, Shamsul Huda, Sara Hossain, ZI Khan Panna, Asif Saleh, Manindra Kumar Debnath, Kajal Debnath, Hasan Mehedi, and Syeda Rizwana Hasan.