Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said on Saturday that the government is monitoring the land mutation application system through online regularly.
If any application is not disposed of by time, the concerned officials are being ordered to show cause, the minister added.
Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury stated this while addressing the chief guest at a national dialogue titled 'Land Law and Policy: Realities in Char land (Bars)' organised by 'National Char Alliance' and 'Shamannay' at the 'Bishwo Shahitto Kendro' in the capital on Saturday.
The government has taken the initiative of the digital survey aimed at reducing land-related cases, he added.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury further said that by making illegal land grabbing a criminal offence, the draft of ‘Land Crime Prevention and Redress Act, 2021’ has been drafted and made open to the public or the opinion of all stakeholders.
The land minister opined that this law will play an important role in preventing land grabbing.
Minister of State for Religion Md Faridul Haq Khan, MP for Kurigram-3 (Ulipur) constituency Professor MA Matin was present.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said that the Prime Minister has included improving the living standards of the Char dwellers in the land national development plan, giving importance.
Another step taken by the government, under her direction, is to provide provision for allotment of agricultural Khas land (subject to availability) up to a maximum of 1 acre subject to availability and up to 1.5 Acre in coastal Char areas, he added.
In addition, the government has so far allotted 44,000 acres of Khas land among 34,000 landless families under the ‘Char Development and Settlement Project’. The process of allotment of land is going on among thousands of other families of Char areas under this project, the minister stated.
He said that a nominal Salami fee (token fee payable to the previous owner for parting land) of Tk 1 has been levied for allocating char land under various landless and homeless programs of the government. There is also a plan to pay related mutation fees by the government.
The land minister further said that the field level offices of the land ministry are spread all over the country. Surprise visits to some offices may improve the situation in certain places for a while; However there is no positive effect in the long run. That is why we have emphasized developing sustainable systems. Once the system is developed, the chances of corruption will be reduced because of the system.
