Vested quarters rob army of owning house at Rupganj
Friday, 11 February 2011
Ferdous Rahman
The army personnel withdrew from its housing project site at Rupganj of Narayanganj last October after demonstrations by an unruly mob was instigated by vested quarters. The army initiated a housing project, namely Army Housing Scheme (AHS), adjacent to Rajuk's Purbachal Project early last year.
Housing is a basic human need and rights to property and as such a fundamental right as per Article 42 of the Constitution of Bangla-desh. Accordingly, the self-financed housing project was initiated for service personnel and it also got the government nod. Thereby planning was made to purchase agricultural land in the proposed project area in order to make it a world class satellite town with all civic amenities including roads, bridges, parks, markets, educational institutes, hospitals, community centres and other modern amenities. From then onward, the project was being implemented by a committee formed by Army Headquarters (AHQ) following all the rules of the land. All members of the project paid a handsome amount of money to AHS authority and for such payment many army personnel had to take loan from the bank.
The process of purchasing land for the project from the local people at the market price through negotiations had been underway since the beginning. The landowners were offered more than the market price to sell their land. It may be mentioned here that the price of per bigha land before the army went to the project site was less than Tk 1.0 million, but the army had been paying Tk 1.7 million for the same.
But few months prior to the incident, vested quarters became active to block the project in various ways and instigated an anti-army and anti-AHS sentiment among the locals. They provoked the general people by saying that the army was going to forcibly acquire their land. However, there were understandings between the landowners, local elites and the AHS authority on various issues related to land purchase. The project authorities have held several rounds of dialogues with the local people to remove any confusion from their minds.
But defying the process, the vested interest groups orchestrated a protest rally and stormed into the AHS project office, ransacked it, attacked army members and tried to snatch away their arms. They put barricades on the roads by felling trees, setting spent tyres on fire at different places around the project site and finally resorted to violence in the area.
The mob attacked the nearby temporary army camps after army personnel called few villagers for a negotiated settlement on the issue. Rumours were spread out that few protesters have been detained in the camp, which later proved to be false. The unruly people vandalised some vehicles during the demonstration. The demonstrators and law enforcers came to a face-off around the camps and soon locked in a clash. A number of army personnel were injured in the mob attack. Even the agitated mob blocked the route by refusing to let the injured be taken to the nearby hospital. The army personnel showed maximum patience in managing the situation. However, the injured people, both civil and military, were airlifted to CMH by helicopter afterwards.
Under such circumstances, the army authorities decided to withdraw all makeshift offices to facilitated negotiations with the locals. But the soldiers were besieged for a few hours before being airlifted by helicopters. The angry mob descended upon the makeshift camp setup on the project site and torched it in the afternoon almost immediately after the army men left the place. They looted furniture and other items left behind by army personnel including the corrugated tin sheets of the camp house.
Hot on the heels of the incident, rumours were fanned out by vested quarters that three local persons went missing, perhaps blaming the army authority for confining them unlawfully whereas, people had witnessed on TV channels the evacuation of army personnel by helicopters. There was no scope to take someone with them dodging public view. Again recently few NGOs are also very much vocal against this project. But at the same time their role is in question, as they are silent about the activities of land developers, who are the main players in the overall degradation of environment of Dhaka city by their unplanned housing projects.
The army is the symbol of independence and sovereignty of the country. Army personnel also have all the rights to purchase land so that they can build their own house and stay there after retirement. Moreover, they are not doing business with the land like the housing companies.
Law should take its own course and be equally followed for everybody. Army personnel are also the sons and daughters of this soil and they should not be deprived of their constitutional rights to housing.
The writer is the Coordinator of Media for Development, and can be reached at e-mail: ferdous.rahmaan@gmail.com
The army personnel withdrew from its housing project site at Rupganj of Narayanganj last October after demonstrations by an unruly mob was instigated by vested quarters. The army initiated a housing project, namely Army Housing Scheme (AHS), adjacent to Rajuk's Purbachal Project early last year.
Housing is a basic human need and rights to property and as such a fundamental right as per Article 42 of the Constitution of Bangla-desh. Accordingly, the self-financed housing project was initiated for service personnel and it also got the government nod. Thereby planning was made to purchase agricultural land in the proposed project area in order to make it a world class satellite town with all civic amenities including roads, bridges, parks, markets, educational institutes, hospitals, community centres and other modern amenities. From then onward, the project was being implemented by a committee formed by Army Headquarters (AHQ) following all the rules of the land. All members of the project paid a handsome amount of money to AHS authority and for such payment many army personnel had to take loan from the bank.
The process of purchasing land for the project from the local people at the market price through negotiations had been underway since the beginning. The landowners were offered more than the market price to sell their land. It may be mentioned here that the price of per bigha land before the army went to the project site was less than Tk 1.0 million, but the army had been paying Tk 1.7 million for the same.
But few months prior to the incident, vested quarters became active to block the project in various ways and instigated an anti-army and anti-AHS sentiment among the locals. They provoked the general people by saying that the army was going to forcibly acquire their land. However, there were understandings between the landowners, local elites and the AHS authority on various issues related to land purchase. The project authorities have held several rounds of dialogues with the local people to remove any confusion from their minds.
But defying the process, the vested interest groups orchestrated a protest rally and stormed into the AHS project office, ransacked it, attacked army members and tried to snatch away their arms. They put barricades on the roads by felling trees, setting spent tyres on fire at different places around the project site and finally resorted to violence in the area.
The mob attacked the nearby temporary army camps after army personnel called few villagers for a negotiated settlement on the issue. Rumours were spread out that few protesters have been detained in the camp, which later proved to be false. The unruly people vandalised some vehicles during the demonstration. The demonstrators and law enforcers came to a face-off around the camps and soon locked in a clash. A number of army personnel were injured in the mob attack. Even the agitated mob blocked the route by refusing to let the injured be taken to the nearby hospital. The army personnel showed maximum patience in managing the situation. However, the injured people, both civil and military, were airlifted to CMH by helicopter afterwards.
Under such circumstances, the army authorities decided to withdraw all makeshift offices to facilitated negotiations with the locals. But the soldiers were besieged for a few hours before being airlifted by helicopters. The angry mob descended upon the makeshift camp setup on the project site and torched it in the afternoon almost immediately after the army men left the place. They looted furniture and other items left behind by army personnel including the corrugated tin sheets of the camp house.
Hot on the heels of the incident, rumours were fanned out by vested quarters that three local persons went missing, perhaps blaming the army authority for confining them unlawfully whereas, people had witnessed on TV channels the evacuation of army personnel by helicopters. There was no scope to take someone with them dodging public view. Again recently few NGOs are also very much vocal against this project. But at the same time their role is in question, as they are silent about the activities of land developers, who are the main players in the overall degradation of environment of Dhaka city by their unplanned housing projects.
The army is the symbol of independence and sovereignty of the country. Army personnel also have all the rights to purchase land so that they can build their own house and stay there after retirement. Moreover, they are not doing business with the land like the housing companies.
Law should take its own course and be equally followed for everybody. Army personnel are also the sons and daughters of this soil and they should not be deprived of their constitutional rights to housing.
The writer is the Coordinator of Media for Development, and can be reached at e-mail: ferdous.rahmaan@gmail.com