The government is planning to formulate guidelines to regulate the haphazard construction of religious institutions across the country.
A parliamentary standing committee of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives made some recommendations in this regard on Sunday.
According to the guidelines, people would have to take permission from the authorities to construct mosques, temples, graveyards or crematoria in their area.
Individual committees will be formed at union, upazila, and municipality levels to decide the matter.
People would also have to use their legally earned money, otherwise known as white money, to build a religious institution.
State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Swapan Bhattacharjee told Dhaka Tribune on Monday: “The guidelines are being formed following a concern from the religious affairs ministry and the LGRD ministry.”
“Bangladesh is a developing country now. We want to maintain a certain standard while building religious institutions across the country. So, some guidelines are on the cards for the formulation of a policy in this regard,” he said.
“People will no longer be able to build religious infrastructure with their black money to gain some cheap popularity. They will have to prove that they are taxpayers, their money is white money before they apply for permission to build religious institutions,” the state minister said.
He also said that the authorities were planning to frame guidelines at the union level also since the value of land in the villages of Bangladesh has increased greatly in recent years.
Md Shah E Alam, a member of the parliamentary standing committee, told Dhaka Tribune: “We want a structure in place for a religious institution to be built. We are now discussing this matter. It will be finalized after we get a nod from the LGRD and Religious Affairs ministries.”