Land Acquisition: Graft allegation against health minister, family ‘regrettable’
Jatiya Party MP Pir Fazlur Rahman, referring to a government land acquisition deal involving the health minister and his family, yesterday said corruption is rife in the country's land sector.
While participating in the discussion on the "State Acquisition and Tenancy (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the opposition MP, terming a report against Health Minister Zahid Maleque as "regrettable", demanded the land minister look into the corruption in the sector.
Fazlur said corruption is rampant in districts where there are land acquisition projects.
He said it is understandable that land needs to be acquired for various development projects undertaken by the government but the government has to tackle corruption there.
Referring to the recently published report in a newspaper, the he said the minister and his children bought land in Manikganj before it was acquired by the government to set up a factory for Essential Drugs, a state-run company.
He said it has become a practice for some people with prior knowledge to purchase land on proposed project sites to make hundreds of crores of taka.
"It is sad that allegations were raised against our health minister in the newspaper regarding land acquisition," he said
According to the opposition MP, the minister bought 6.39 acres, his son bought 3.12 acres, his daughter bought 11.14 acres, and one of his brothers-in-law bought 5.54 acres of land near the project site.
The JP MP said that earlier, a report termed the land acquisition office in Cox's Bazar a corruption hub. According to reports, the office used to take a 15 percent commission.
Urging the land minister to take action, Pir Fazlur Rahman said these incidents are shameful when the prime minister is carrying out development activities.
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