Rajiv Dey :
The land acquisition process is still time-consuming, complex and cumbersome for citizens in many cases.
Land is not just an asset; it is deeply intertwined with people’s livelihood, dignity, social security and emotions. Therefore, ensuring transparency, accountability and humanity in the land acquisition process along with efficiency is a fundamental policy commitment of the government.
Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Land, ASM Saleh Ahmed, said these things in his speech as the chief guest at a workshop on land services and land management modernization in Bangladesh jointly organized by the Ministry of Land and the World Bank at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel today.
He said – the government is now moving away from the ad hoc approach and towards establishing a systematic digital land acquisition framework. As part of this, the Ministry of Land has completed the draft of the Immovable Property Acquisition and Land Command Occupancy Rules.
At the same time, a digital payment system is being developed to deliver the compensation due to the affected people quickly and without harassment. As a result, delays, harassment will be reduced and the transparency and accountability of the entire land acquisition will be strengthened.
He also said – I firmly believe that the recommendations received from today’s exchange of views will give us practical guidance to develop a more efficient, transparent and people-friendly land acquisition process – which will further accelerate the development of the country and reduce public harassment.
The workshop was chaired by Md. Emdadul Haque Chowdhury, Additional Secretary (Development) of the Ministry of Land, and Mr. Kumar Tadimalla, Dong Q. Kwak and Md. Akhtaruzzaman, representatives of the World Bank, delivered speeches.
A standard operating procedure (SOP) for land acquisition was presented in the workshop and the opinions of the stakeholders were taken. This SOP will be finalized in the light of everyone’s opinions. It is hoped that this will make the acquisition process easier, faster and more people-friendly, which will accelerate the country’s development.
Officials from various ministries, development cooperation organizations, civil society, non-governmental organizations and media representatives were present at the workshop.
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