Environmental orgs urge govt to not acquire agricultural land in Khulna’s Banishanta

Eight environmental organisations today collectively sent a letter to 10 government agencies demanding them to refrain from acquiring 300 acres of agricultural land at Banishanta union under Dakop upazila in Khulna.

In the letter, they said that the 300 acres of land is the only source of livelihood for the farmers of the area, but a proposal has been placed under Mongla Port Inner Dredging Project in order to dump sand on the land.

The initiative for acquisition of this land is against the prime minister's announcement for protecting the agricultural land, the letter said, adding that the initiative has been taken without assessing the authentic 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 Association for Land Reform and Development(ALRD); Khushi Kabir, coordinator and leader of Nijera Kori; Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB; Golam Manar Kamal, executive director, Ain O Salish Kendra; Advocate Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive at Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA); Sara Hossain, lawyer and honorary director, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST); and Asif Saleh, executive director of BRAC.

The letter was sent to the secretaries at the ministries of land; environment and climate change and agriculture; chairman of Mongla Port Authority, director general of department of environment; deputy commissioner and superintendent of Khulna; upazila nirbahi officer of Dakop; director of Khulna divisional office under the DoE and land acquisition officer of Khulna.

The copy of the letter was also forwarded to the land minister, environment and climate change minister and agriculture minister for meeting and discussing with them about the alternatives to the land acquisition.