Every upazila should have master plan for using land: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday directed the authorities concerned to work out a master plan for every upazila on land use, reports BSS.
She gave the directive at a cabinet meeting with herself in the chair at her office in the city's Tejgaon area.
"The Prime Minister has instructed that every upazila should have a master plan in terms of land use," Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain said at a briefing at the Secretariat here after the cabinet meeting.
He, however, said that the Local Government Division has already taken initiative in this regard and started working to formulate the master plan.
According to the cabinet secretary, the Prime Minister asked the authorities concerned to complete the formulation of the plan within the quickest possible time.
Noting that the master plan will ensure rational use of land in the development process, Mahbub said the Prime Minister asked to monitor so that houses and industries cannot be built here and there or land could not be used in any other way.
Once the master plan is formulated, it will bring discipline in using land, he added.
UNB adds: the Cabinet meeting also approved in principle the draft of Personal Data Protection Act 2023 in order to check misuse of personal information.
"No personal information can be shared without permission of the individual concerned (as per the draft law)," said Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain while briefing reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat after the meeting.
He said information is now one of the biggest resources. In this digital age, the use of information is considered as one of the biggest resources.
He said the draft law was brought for management of personal information.
The cabinet secretary said Bangladesh Data Protection Board will be formed to ensure the protection of individual's privacy and permission in case of the use of personal information.
The board will formulate guidelines and rules for those who collect and process the data of the people, he said.
The organisations that will collect and process data will have to be registered with the board, said Mr Hossain.
Noting that there will be categories of information, he said that some information of a person can be shared or used on permission of the particular person, while some other information can't be shared or used without following the rules and regulations despite having permission from the particular person.
Talking about punishment for misuse of personal data, the top bureaucrat said there are provisions of Tk 300,000-500,000 in fines for violations of the proposed law in case of local firms.
In case of foreign firms, the fine would be 5.0 per cent of a company's total annual turnover in Bangladesh, he said.
Raising the PM's directive, he said the Prime Minister asked the Local Government Division to complete the preparation of upazila-based master plans over the use of land within the quickest possible time.
"We will have to have a master plan for every upazila over the use of land," she was quoted as saying.
The premier also asked the authorities concerned to pay attention to the rational use of lands checking the development of houses and industries haphazardly.
In this context, it was informed that the Local Government Division has taken an initiative to prepare a master plan for every upazila over the use of lands and the work already continues in this regard.
The cabinet also in principle approved the draft Joyeeta Foundation Act, 2023 to run the Foundation under a separate law instead of the Company Act.
The meeting cleared a draft aviation operation agreement to be signed between Bangladesh and Switzerland.
Besides, the cabinet ratified an agreement between Bangladesh and Kazakhstan on exemption from Visa requirements for holders of diplomatic and service/official passports.