The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Eminent Economist and former Adviser of Caretaker Government Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud said yesterday that poor peoples' access to land cannot be ensured unless there are integrated effort of the government, NGO's and local people.

He made the remark as a chief guest at a workshop on the poor peoples' land access issue at CIRDAP Auditorium in the city.

"We couldn't ensure the poor people access to land except there is strong local government body in the country," Prof Mahmud said.

He quoted the example of West Bengal of India where poor people are successful to use land due to their strong local government body.

He alleged that illegal land grabbers including political influence are still continuing to grab khas lands.

"You will find the land grabbers built garden houses on the forest lands if you travel by the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway. They took lease of those lands in the name of industry or filling station," he said.

Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) organised the workshop as a part of its ongoing research study project on `Access to Land and Other Natural Resources by the Rural Poor: The Case of Bangladesh'.

Economist Mahmud said, "I have suggested the present Caretaker Government to take under exemplary punishment against these land grabbers. Unfortunately, they were not punished till now. They are still continuing their misdeeds."

He also alleged that the rich and politically influential people are also grabbing the riverbeds of Buriganga and other rivers and also the newly created char lands in the coastal areas across the country.

He called upon the government, NGO's and local organisations to work together for resisting the land grabbers.

Prof Mahmud thought that the country's 90 percent farmers are marginal farmers and they have got very small piece of land or no land at all.

"So, if they want to get out of poverty, they have to have diversified sources of income along with the agricultural farming. Otherwise, they will always remain as poor," he said. He suggested for building planned suburb to protect the cultivable lands.

LGRD Secretary ATM Fazlul Karim and CIRDAP Director General Dr. Durga P Paudyl also spoke at the function, while Dhaka University Associate Professor Dr. Selim Raihan presented a keynote paper at the function.

ATM Fazlul Karim said that farmer can not be sure whether they will benefit from their land when property rights are insecure.

He said that the workshop help the government to rearrange land use policy.

In his keynote, Dr. Raihan claimed that rural people are losing their access to land due to various factors. They could only be protected through land reforms, he said.

He said that Land reform is not just about the redistribution of the ownership of land, but also about establishing the rights of tenants.

"Reform in land administration is a must," he emphasised.

Economist MM Akash said that the Khas land should be given for those who are living their livelihood on agriculture.

Shamsuzzaman Siddiqui, President of Bangladesh Agriculture Labour Association said that all the successive government were in corruption while distribution of khas land. He called upon the government to frame a land use policy to save the cultivable land.

Eng Kamal Hossain called for moral change for the accurate distribution of khas land.