The government is going to introduce fresh Rules as per the newly enacted ‘Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act, 2023’ in order to bring paradigm reforms in the land management.
Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said that the government has been working on introducing the fresh Rules on land management. The work of formulating the Rules as per the Land Crimes Prevention and Remedy Act, 2023 is at the last stage. It will be finalized soon, he said.
The minister said this while speaking as the chief guest at a workshop on smart land service organised by the Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum at the Media Center in the Bangladesh Secretariat on Monday (November 20, 2023).
Joint secretary of Land Ministry Dr. Md. Jahid Hossain Panir was also present at the event with president of Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum Fasih Uddin Mahtab in the chair.
Speaking at the event, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury also informed that the Bangladesh Digital Land Survey will be completed soon. Land zoning is being done and digital survey has started in Patuakhali region, he said.
He also said land tax and other service fees are being paid online. However, it is also true that there are problems at the field level, which is not possible to fix, he added.
The minister said that the government has done a lot of development work. The entire country is the beneficiary of major infrastructures including Metro Rail, Karnaphuli Tunnel, and Padma Bridge. “It is true that the prices of daily commodities have increased. People are suffering. There are domestic as well as international reasons for this. Covid-19, Russia-Ukraine war, and the Palestine-Israel war have affected commodity prices, but it will decrease in future,” he added.
Regarding the ongoing political programmes, the land minister said that strikes are not effective anymore.
In his speech, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said that due to the strong leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, it has been possible to enact several important laws, including the much-awaited Land Crimes Prevention and Remedy Act, 2023. The law was passed in the Jatiya Sangsad on September 12 aiming to curb land-related forgeries and offenses.
He said the Land Ministry has entered the smart era by introducing several smart land services. Through this, the Land Ministry has emerged as one of the pioneers in building Smart Bangladesh.
The land minister said that to prevent corruption in land acquisition and to reduce the suffering of the bona fide owners of the acquired land, payment of compensation for land acquisition through IBAS is being taken.
He said that it is possible to settle more than 4 lakh mutation cases every month with the cashless smart e-Mutation system. He also said that under the cashless smart land development tax system, Tk 5 crore is being deposited in the government treasury daily through automated challan.
Land Minister mentioned that citizens will be able to receive land services more seamless if the registration process under the jurisdiction of Law and Justice Division is completely digitized. However, registration-mutation interconnection has already been established in 17 upazilas on an experimental basis to facilitate automatic mutation as per deed document.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, mentioning that his tenure as Land Minister is nearing the end, said, “I have tried to best utilize the time after the Prime Minister gave me the responsibility of the Land Ministry. I have tried to work with honesty and dedication with the entire team of the ministry. My aim was to work through efficiency, transparency and accountability to provide proper land services to the citizens of the country.”
He further said there is still a lot of work to be done, but the land ministry was on the right track to complete it.