AN English daily reported on Tuesday that people are building unnecessary sheds on their lands which are right alongside the Dhaka-Tangail highway. Small crammed tin sheds have sprung up on areas the government has earmarked for acquisition. When one wonders why landowners and brokers construct these unlivable sheds with cheap materials, realisation dawns on them that this is a ploy to realise undue compensation from the government for acquiring the landowner’s land.
According to the report, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has taken up the Joydevpur-Chandra-Tangail-Elenga highway project in April 2013 to widen the existing 70-kilometre stretch of the road into a four-lane highway in order to improve communication between Tangail and Gazipur districts and the rest of the country. Under the project the government will acquire 35.433 hectares of land from Mirzapur upazila in Tangail and Kaliakoir upazila in Gazipur.
The bad intentions of the landowners is obvious in what Mr. Jabed Ali , nonchalantly said, “Everyone has built rooms on their lands to get more money as compensation. I have just followed suit”. RHD officials (who seem to have caught whiff of the unjustified claims of the landowners), have clarified that during the acquisition, compensation packages would only be offered for acquired lands as per local rates but not for unnecessarily built structures. Interestingly, video footage of the relevant areas was taken before the acquisition process was started, thus helping the authorities stay informed.
Unfortunately, officials at the local land office said that a section of unscrupulous officials and employees involved with land survey and the process of acquisition always inform brokers in advance of the selected swathes of land to be acquired. Nevertheless, higher authorities like Nasrin Sultana, Assistant Commissioner (Land) in Mirzapur, denied the allegations of collusions between land officials and brokers.
It is not right that the people’s hard earned money via taxes are being so unscrupulously disbursed to such cunning landowners and brokers who seem to be ready to stoop to any level just to make a quick profit, even if it be in the taxpayer’s expense.
We want some honesty and patriotism from some people in the government to do what is right and fair.
