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Over 700 acres of city state land gobbled up

REZAUL KARIM
Over 700 acres of khas (government-owned) land and vested property in the capital are in the possession of land grabbers.
The government appears unable to recover the illegally occupied property due to loopholes in the relevant laws.
According to a land ministry estimate, there are 1,800 acres khas, abandoned and vested property land in Dhaka and its adjoining areas.
Of the total, around 650 acres of khas land, 109 acres of abandoned land and 997 acres of vested property are in five circles of the capital -
- all non-agricultural land.
The government-formed Secretary Committee on recovery of illegally occupied land has recommended major changes to the existing laws to do the job and stop the trend of land-grab.
Headed by Cabinet Secretary Saadat Hussain, the 11-member committee observed that although the laws provide for punishing the illegal occupants, they lacked proper guidelines and provisions to resist encroachment on lands. The committee said articles 427, 447, 448 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which deal with punishment to the encroachers, are outdated and suggested making those stricter.
The committee identified dishonest real estate companies, organised gangs of frauds, criminals, a section of industry owners, political activists and a number of trusts and organisations as the real culprits behind the land-grab.
A land ministry survey shows 228 acres of khas land in Kotwali, Demra and Dhanmondi circles are under illegal occupation. Out of 997 acres of vested property, around 480 acres have been encroached on.
The Kotwali circle comprises Kotwali, Sutrapur, Wari, Dayaganj, Ramna, Baro Moghbazar, Kakrail and Mahmud Nagar areas, Demra
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comprises Sabujbagh and Motijheel thanas and 27 moujas under Demra thana and Dhanmondi circle consists of Mohammadpur, Lalbagh and Dhanmondi thanas.
However, no estimate of the illegally occupied lands in two other circles -- Mirpur (comprising Mirpur and Cantonment) and Tejgaon (Uttara and Gulshan) -could not be known. There are 115 acres of khas lands in these two circles.
Out of 997 acres of vested property in the capital, around 480 acres are occupied illegally. Of them, about 300 acres are in Sabujbagh, 90 acres in Demra, 80 acres in Mirpur and 11 acres in Kotwali circles.
Of the 109 acres of abandoned land, 58 acres are leased out annually, 46 acres are not leased and 4.47 acres have been 'released'.
Sources mentioned that various committees, including a cabinet committee headed by Land Minister M Shamsul Islam, and also the Secretary Committee are now working to bring about massive reforms in land laws to tackle land grabbing.
Shamsul Islam told The Daily Star the government has taken up steps to update the century-old land
laws.
The Secretary Committee said crooks grab lands in direct or indirect collaboration with government officials, employees and their relatives. Expatriates, the poor, hapless women and innocent people are their prime targets, it noted.
The committee put khas land, vested property, abandoned land, 'nawab' estates and shoals under the land ministry and wakf (endowed lands) under the religious affairs ministry high on the list of illegally grabbed lands.