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Land dispute leaves Horticulture Centre's future hanging in balance

KAUSAR ISLAM AYON
The conflict between two ministries over the ownership of the
land of Horticulture Centre (HC) at Asadgate has ended temporarily but the future of the centre is still uncertain, as the Public Works Department (PWD) has not given up its claim on this land.
"This land belong to the PWD and we have decided to let it construct the boundary and use
the land. The final decision on the matter will be made at the ministry level," said Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury, secretary of the PWD.
The HC at Asadgate established in 1970, which belongs to the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), is one of two such centres in the capital. The officials of the centre said they got allotment of the 1.5 acres of land from Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) the same year.
"Since then we have been regularly paying land tax. Suddenly in 1992, the PWD claimed ownership of the land without any required documents," said Kazi Muzaffar Hussain, the official in charge of the centre.
He also said in 1992 the PWD filed a case claiming the ownership of the land, but the court gave verdict in favour of the BADC.
In spite of the court's verdict, the PWD kept trying to get the land in various ways. At last in an interministerial meeting in 1997, it was decided that the land would be used for the HC.
But the PWD did not give up its fight for the land and allegedly attacked the centre workers as the boundary wall was being constructed.
"About 80 to 100 people suddenly attacked us, destroyed the plants and knocked down the wall," said Muzaffar Hussain.
He said the centre suffered a loss of Tk 3.5 lakh in seedlings and property because of the attack.
But Executive Engineer of the PWD Kabir Hossain refuted the allegation.
"We, the employees of the PWD, went there just to request them not to build any boundary wall on our land but there were no attacks," said Kabir.
He however declined to admit whether he had permission from higher authorities to stop the centre's work.
The Horticulture Centre has filed a case with the Mohammadpur Police Station.
The quarrel stopped after a talk the secretaries of the two concerned ministries had. In that meeting it was decided that the centre would be allowed to construct the boundary wall. But the officials of the centre are still not sure of the future of the organisation as no decision has yet been made on the ownership of land.
"We have decided to let them use the land on a temporary basis, but we did not give up our claim on that piece of land which we acquired in 1959. If someone uses the land for years it doesn't mean that the land belongs to them," said Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury, secretary of the PWD.
"The centre contributes to the city environment and the economy as well. We produce about 7 lakh seedlings every year and contribute Tk.5-7 lakh to the exchequer every year," said Kazi Muzaffar Hussain, overseer of the centre.