Govt seeks back five fish farms from GB
Syful Islam | Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Syful Islam
The Department of Fisheries (DoF) has sought back five fish seed multiplication farms from the Grameen Bank (GB), taken under lease agreement from the government in 1987, official sources said. The DoF director general in a letter last week asked the managing director of the Grameen Fisheries and Livestock Foundation (GFLF), a sister concern of GB, to immediately handover the five farms, since their 'lease tenure was over.' The fisheries department has taken the step at a time when Grameen Bank's founder and managing director Dr Mohammad Yunus is in a legal battle regarding his position. The High Court Tuesday dismissed Noble Laureate Yunus's writ petition in this connection. However, GFLF managing director Ehsanul Bari claimed that the lease tenure was automatically renewed according to the clause-II of the agreement. They were continuing their activities in the farms as usual. The DoF letter mentioned that 20 farms were leased in favour of GB in 1988. Among them, 15 were returned to the government in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The rest five farms, located at Kaharol, Setabganj, Pulhat, Syedpur and Gobindaganj, were not handed over to the govt, 'despite the lease period was over.' The parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of fisheries and livestock has decided not to renew the lease agreement of the farms with the GB. Subsequently DoF has asked GFLF to handover the five farms. Grameen Fisheries did not hand over the farms, citing that the lease was renewed automatically, according to the Clause-II of the agreement. The DoF in its letter claimed that the agreement was automatically renewed in 1988 for 10 years, and there is no scope for doing the same again. "GFLF is illegally keeping the farms in their possession since 2008," it added. Talking to the FE Tuesday, the GFLF MD said, in 1985 the government handed over Nimgachhi fish farm to GFLF to save it from loss and prevent looting by some vested quarters. "We turned the fish farm into the biggest pond farming area in Asia with 2,000 tonnes of annual production in 2010, from 46 tonnes in 1985." "We handed it over to the government this January. Since then, the farm is lying like an orphan. The result is that local landless people and the government are incurring losses now." He said according to the clause-II of the agreement, the government has to issue six months' prior notice to GB, before the end of the tenure, to take back the farms. "As the government did not serve any notice in this connection before 2008, the agreement was automatically renewed for another 10 years, and we continued farming there." The Grameen Fisheries MD said he would write to the DoF immediately in this connection. GFLF is considering a move to hand over four out of five fish seed farms by this month, and the remaining farm by this December, he added.
The Department of Fisheries (DoF) has sought back five fish seed multiplication farms from the Grameen Bank (GB), taken under lease agreement from the government in 1987, official sources said. The DoF director general in a letter last week asked the managing director of the Grameen Fisheries and Livestock Foundation (GFLF), a sister concern of GB, to immediately handover the five farms, since their 'lease tenure was over.' The fisheries department has taken the step at a time when Grameen Bank's founder and managing director Dr Mohammad Yunus is in a legal battle regarding his position. The High Court Tuesday dismissed Noble Laureate Yunus's writ petition in this connection. However, GFLF managing director Ehsanul Bari claimed that the lease tenure was automatically renewed according to the clause-II of the agreement. They were continuing their activities in the farms as usual. The DoF letter mentioned that 20 farms were leased in favour of GB in 1988. Among them, 15 were returned to the government in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The rest five farms, located at Kaharol, Setabganj, Pulhat, Syedpur and Gobindaganj, were not handed over to the govt, 'despite the lease period was over.' The parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of fisheries and livestock has decided not to renew the lease agreement of the farms with the GB. Subsequently DoF has asked GFLF to handover the five farms. Grameen Fisheries did not hand over the farms, citing that the lease was renewed automatically, according to the Clause-II of the agreement. The DoF in its letter claimed that the agreement was automatically renewed in 1988 for 10 years, and there is no scope for doing the same again. "GFLF is illegally keeping the farms in their possession since 2008," it added. Talking to the FE Tuesday, the GFLF MD said, in 1985 the government handed over Nimgachhi fish farm to GFLF to save it from loss and prevent looting by some vested quarters. "We turned the fish farm into the biggest pond farming area in Asia with 2,000 tonnes of annual production in 2010, from 46 tonnes in 1985." "We handed it over to the government this January. Since then, the farm is lying like an orphan. The result is that local landless people and the government are incurring losses now." He said according to the clause-II of the agreement, the government has to issue six months' prior notice to GB, before the end of the tenure, to take back the farms. "As the government did not serve any notice in this connection before 2008, the agreement was automatically renewed for another 10 years, and we continued farming there." The Grameen Fisheries MD said he would write to the DoF immediately in this connection. GFLF is considering a move to hand over four out of five fish seed farms by this month, and the remaining farm by this December, he added.