Staff Reporter :
On ethical grounds, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury directed the concerned officials to take necessary steps to cancel the lease of the Chingri Mahal (shrimp pond zone) which was handed over as inheritance property by his (Minister) father.
The land minister directed this while presiding over a meeting of the National Shrimp Management Committee held in the Land Ministry’s conference room on Wednesday.
As the matter of leasing Chingri Mahal falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Land, the Land Minister, in principle on ethical grounds, asked the concerned officials to take necessary steps to cancel the lease of the Chingri Mahal that owned by him.
Among others, lawmakers Shaimum Sarwar Kamal, MP, Jafar Alam, MP, and Land Secretary Md. Mustafizur Rahman attended the meeting.
However, he directed to introduce online management to prevent harassment in the payment of revenue of the Chingri Mahal.
“Officials concerned should take measures for giving DCR right away after revenue collection to alleviate the sufferings of the leaseholders of Chingri Mahal. Set up as an automated verification system to ensure that one member of a family can get the lease of the Chingri Mahal,” Saifuzzaman Chowdhury directed the department concerned.
Besides, a policy was taken in the meeting to modernize the Chingri Mahal policy and not to lease out Chingri Mahal without NID.
The lease proposal of 44 Chingri Mahals were discussed for approval based on the reports of different districts of the country. The concerned officials were also instructed to take steps to start the process of converting a 135-acre Chingri Mahal of Satkhira into a Jalmahal (Water bodies), which is not suitable for shrimp farming.
There are about 1596 Chingri Mahals across the country, which are sources to earn revenue of crores of takas.
Various stakeholders including the Ministry of Land, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change officials, field administration officials of Cox’s Bazar and Satkhira districts, and individuals involved in shrimp farming and trade also attended the meeting.
