The land registration office under the law ministry will be brought under the land ministry to prevent the service seekers from going through double the hassle and to discourage corrupt practices, State Minister for Land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said yesterday.
The state minister was addressing a roundtable discussion titled “Land Management in Bangladesh: Experience from the Grassroots” held at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital. Minister for Land Shamsur Rahman Sherif was also in attendance.
Saifuzzaman also said an online based information centre named “Land Bank” will also be introduced soon to ensure one stop services for the general mass in order to expedite the service delivery process.
As all the information related to the land registration process will be preserved at the “Land Bank” system, people can verify their documents and collect actual information from the new system, and it will cost them less time, reduce the hassle and will help toward preventing corrupt practices, he added.
He also said the provisions of the constitution can be amended if it is necessary. “The ministry had already applied for the amendment of some provisions of the constitution which is expected to help the masses,” he said.
In response to queries, the state minister said: “There is also a plan to categorise all land into different zones. So agriculture based lands will be in the “agricultural zone” and industrial lands will be in the “industrial zone.”
The land management system will be digitised soon and will then be able to give proper information to the masses, the Land Minister Shamsur Rahman Sherif said in a response.
Some victims, who have been cheated, shared their issues at the roundtable discussion. Admitting that corrupt practices take place inside the land ministry offices, Senior Secretary of the land ministry, Mohammad Shafiul Alam, said: “If any complaints are proved, there will be ‘zero’ tolerance and proper steps will be taken to solve the issue.”
Grassroots level people, along with the lawmakers, stressed on the need to open up information centres regarding khas land so that people cannot be cheated by the land grabbers and do not have to suffer with fake cases.
Saifuzzaman also expressed his hope that a proper land survey can be held to decrease these problems.
ActionAid Bangladesh country director conducted the roundtable session while Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh Iftekharuzzaman, lawmakers including Aftab Uddin Sarker, Panchanan Biswas, Shawkat Hasanur Rahman Rimon, AKM Jahangir Hossain, Shamsul Alam Dudu and representatives from different organisations also addressed the function, among others.
