101 landless families in each upazilas to get govt land
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
FE Report
The government said it will give farm lands to 101 landless families in each of 436 upazilas every year to rehabilitate them.
"A decision on distribution of land was taken last month in view of a massive response received from the landless people this year after the process was suspended during the caretaker government," said a land ministry official.
The grand alliance government took a decision in January to distribute farm land to 20 landless families in each upazila by June, but now it has decided to cover more people under the programme as the number of applications exceeded the allotment target by huge margin, he said.
In the January to September period, the government allocated 4,830 acres to 13,036 families.
Nineteen upazilas are out of the purview of the settlement programme as no land is considered as farm land in those upazilas and land of three hill districts is also kept out of the programme, the official said.
The guideline for farm land settlement was formulated in 1997 and since then 263,252 families received 143,439 acres of land, according to latest statistics.
When asked why it was discontinued in the caretaker government period, the official said 61 districts have separate settlement committees and one of the parliament members of each district is member of the committee.
"As there were no MPs in the last caretaker government it was not possible to allocate land," he explained.
In Dhaka division, 3,295 families in 109 upazilas on an average received 0.29 acres, in Chittagong division, 2415 families in 70 upazilas received 0.55 acres, in Rajshahi division, 3337 families in 122 upazilas got 0.25 acres, in Khulna division, 1662 families in 58 upazilas got 0.26 acres, in Barisal division, 1102 families in 40 upazilas got 0.54 acres.
The government said it will give farm lands to 101 landless families in each of 436 upazilas every year to rehabilitate them.
"A decision on distribution of land was taken last month in view of a massive response received from the landless people this year after the process was suspended during the caretaker government," said a land ministry official.
The grand alliance government took a decision in January to distribute farm land to 20 landless families in each upazila by June, but now it has decided to cover more people under the programme as the number of applications exceeded the allotment target by huge margin, he said.
In the January to September period, the government allocated 4,830 acres to 13,036 families.
Nineteen upazilas are out of the purview of the settlement programme as no land is considered as farm land in those upazilas and land of three hill districts is also kept out of the programme, the official said.
The guideline for farm land settlement was formulated in 1997 and since then 263,252 families received 143,439 acres of land, according to latest statistics.
When asked why it was discontinued in the caretaker government period, the official said 61 districts have separate settlement committees and one of the parliament members of each district is member of the committee.
"As there were no MPs in the last caretaker government it was not possible to allocate land," he explained.
In Dhaka division, 3,295 families in 109 upazilas on an average received 0.29 acres, in Chittagong division, 2415 families in 70 upazilas received 0.55 acres, in Rajshahi division, 3337 families in 122 upazilas got 0.25 acres, in Khulna division, 1662 families in 58 upazilas got 0.26 acres, in Barisal division, 1102 families in 40 upazilas got 0.54 acres.