The money for the acquisition of land by “looting” is over, the construction of the Shariatpur-Chandpur road has stopped.
Photo Collected
Not in the design, not caught in the video taken after the project was sanctioned, yet huge compensation was paid against those ‘non-existent’ installations. There have been allegations of irregularities surrounding the acquisition of land in the Shariatpur-Chandpur regional road project. Although all the allocated money has already been exhausted, only 51 percent of the land has been acquired.
Meanwhile, even after 6 years of the project, the construction of the 35 km road has stopped at only 6 km. The progress of the project is only 15 percent due to land acquisition complications despite extending the period three times. The Department of Roads and Public Ways (SOAZ) is going to propose to increase the expenditure by another Tk 415 crore as the allocated money has already been exhausted.
বিজ্ঞাপন
It has been found that the main reason behind the slowness of the project is the complexity of land acquisition. Allegations of collecting compensation against illegal construction in land acquisition, disbursement of money without regard to the law and accepting bribes by discounting the acquisition money have been made against the concerned persons. The total cost of acquiring 95.85 hectares of land is Tk 430 crore. But to acquire 49 hectares of land, all the allocated money is over.
According to Soaz sources, the Chandpur-Shariatpur regional road was opened in 2001 for the easy movement of goods and passenger vehicles from 21 districts of the southwestern region to the Chittagong region. The previous government took the initiative to widen the road as it was narrow and impassable. A project was approved at a cost of Tk 860 crore to rebuild the 35 km road from Manohar Bazar in Shariatpur city to Ibrahimpur in Vedarganj upazila in the 2019-20 financial year. Initially 430 crores for land acquisition for 4-lane road and remaining 430 crores for construction of 2-lane 34 feet wide road.
বিজ্ঞাপন
The implementation period of the project was till December 2021. Later the period was extended till December 2023. However, as the work was not completed, the period was extended till December 2025 in the second phase. But after working only six kilometers, the contractor could not work due to lack of understanding of the land to be acquired. Still 46.95 hectares of land remains to be acquired. Souz has now written to the ministry to extend the duration of the project in the third phase.
Sheikh Nabil Hossain, executive engineer of Shariatpur of Soaz, told Prothom Alo that the money for land acquisition was considered low in DPP. Because of this, the money runs out before the acquisition is completed. On the other hand, 29 km road work could not be done even with three rounds of tenders due to lack of understanding of the land. The third phase of the project has already ended. Now there is a proposal in the ministry to extend the term. An increase in expenditure of Tk 415 crore will be proposed if the period is extended. Of which 300 crores will be spent on land acquisition and the remaining 115 crores will be spent on road construction.
The Land Acquisition (LA) wing of the district administration issued a notice to the land owners to acquire 95.85 hectares of land as per the plan after receiving the letter from Souz. Video was then taken to view the location of the land, structures and vegetation. But before and after the shooting of the video, some local cliques built various structures on the vacant land.
It has been alleged that the officers and employees of the LA branch arranged with the gang to get compensation for the illegal installation. Facilities that are not in the video or not in the road design, are also compensated. Apart from this, unusual bills have been given by showing small trees as large and medium trees. Even though the compensation was paid, now the structure is not on the acquired land.
The land of a person named Shafiqul Islam has been acquired in Chartarbunia Mauza of Balarbazar area of Vedarganj. In the video of the district administration, a one-story building was seen on the land. But at the time of compensation, at least 30 lakh additional bill was given by showing it as partial second floor. However, Shafiqul refused to comment on this.
There is some vegetation on the land acquired by Zainal Khan in Paparail area. 200 trees of various varieties and shapes are shown in the plot from the LA branch. The price of each big tree with a height of 5.8 inches is estimated at 56 thousand taka. But there is not a single tree of that shape in his land. A compensation of Tk 28 lakh 50 thousand has been prepared for 200 trees of the garden. Zainal Khan said that the forest department people prepared the bill after the list was made by the DC office people. There was no irregularity here.
Shariatpur Forest Department Officer-in-Charge Habibur Rahman said that the list of plants given by the district administration was determined after looking at the ground. There was no irregularity here.
Sub-section 3(a) of Section 7 of the Immovable Property Acquisition and Possession Act 2017 states that houses or structures constructed or under construction for illegitimate purposes shall not be included in the joint list by the District Commissioner. Sections 8 and 9 state that the owners of establishments excluded from the joint investigation of the district administration have to appeal to the Commissioner (Divisional) if they have any objections. The Commissioner will dispose of the appeal within 7 or 10 working days. But compensation has also been given for illegal structures built on the land in violation of the law. The law was not followed even in the disposal of appeals.
The road started from Charkashabhog area of Sadar Upazila. Shahida Begum built two tin shed houses on her land here in the hope of getting additional compensation. The LA branch removed the two establishments from the compensation list, listing them as being against the public interest. Shahida submitted an objection to the District Commissioner. After a hearing on behalf of the Deputy Commissioner, he was given Tk 45 lakh 81 thousand as compensation. District administration sources have informed that at least 120 objections of 19 LA cases of the LA branch road have been settled by themselves without disregarding the law.
Shahida’s two houses, who recently went to Charkashabhog area and received compensation of Tk 45 lakh, were not found. He was also not at home. Shahida’s son Shafiqul Islam told Prothom Alo that his father built two houses after hearing the news of the construction of the road. After receiving the compensation money, they bought the houses from the government and demolished them.
On the land of Chan Sharif Molya of South Madhyapara area of Sadar Upazila, a third floor was partially constructed on a two-storey building. Against that establishment, the district administration gave him Tk 1 crore 86 lakh as compensation. The structure was no longer found on the ground.
In that area, there were six infrastructures including paved buildings on the land acquired by a person named Mustafa Sardar. The LA branch paid him Rs 44 lakh as compensation. Currently there is no establishment there. Now Mustafa Sardar installed LPG pump on the acquired land without taking permission. He said, ‘After receiving the compensation money, the government office people were selling the buildings. So we bought it. I removed that installation and started the pump.
3 percent of the land belonging to couple Monowara Begum and Abdul Malek Fakir of South Madhyapara area has been acquired. There was a tin house on the land. The couple alleged that they had to pay a bribe of 2.5 lakhs to the officials of their LA branch to collect 16 lakhs as compensation for the house. Abdul Malek said, “He was not giving checks without money. I wandered day after day. Forced to bring a compensation check with money.
Part of Nannu Sardar’s one-storey building has been acquired. He took Tk 2 crore 78 lakh as compensation. But he alleged that the people of LA branch took 6 percent of the money from him by talking about VAT in withdrawing the money. After receiving the compensation money, he defied the law and built a three-storey building on top of the one-storey building. Nannu Sardar said, “The surveyors of the LA branch have taken 6 percent from me for VAT. They did not take any money inside the office. Outside gave us the check after delivering the money to their designated person.
Several calls were made to Abu Taher, surveyor of the LA branch, over two days. Short messages are also sent. But his statement was not received due to non-response. Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Masudul Alam said, “I don’t know who took the money.” I have not received any complaint. He said about the violation of the law, “This is an earlier incident. So I cannot give any explanation.
Regarding the complaint, Deputy Commissioner Tahsina Begum told Prothom Alo, ‘I have said from the beginning that no one will take any kind of percentage. To my knowledge no one has taken it. I have told many people, give me specifics with proof, of course I will take action. So far no one has given it. In this regard, no one will be given any exemption.
Regarding the complaint against the LA branch, the Deputy Commissioner said, “After I came, I transferred many people from the LA branch. When asked about the irregularities and violation of law in paying compensation, he refused to comment stating that he was not working in Shariatpur.
Sheikh Nabil Hossain, executive engineer of SOAZ, said that he has not received any information of irregularities in the field level compensation. The work was coordinated by the District Commissioner’s office. After receiving compensation, he will look into the areas where there are complaints of lack of infrastructure. The indemnified person has to explain the infrastructure.
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