21,000 acres of forest land has been expropriated in the coastal forest area of Chattogram by approximately 12 thousand lang-grabbers including politicians, artists and many influential people of various professions.
These lands have been dispossessed due to various reasons, including the lack of direct authority of the Forest Department in recovering the land and allotment of land for shrimp farming across the coast.
Officials of the coastal forest area said that even though several letters compiled with a list of names have been sent to the district administration urging vacating the dispossessed land, no action was taken.
According to the Coastal Afforestation Division, Chattogram, the Coastal Forest Division consists of 11 ranges in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar districts. The total forest area of these 11 ranges is a little more than 1,65,000 acres, according to the 1985 Forest Department gazette. Some 11,715 people have occupied 20,839.25 acres of this coastal forest land.
Out of this, 1,323 encroachers occupy 1,738.95 acres in three ranges of Chattogram district and 10,392 encroachers occupy 19,100.30 acres of forest land in six ranges of Cox's Bazar district.
According to the latest updated data (July) of Coastal Afforestation Division, the extent of encroachment in nine out of 11 ranges in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar is about 21,000 acres.
Out of this, 24 encroachers in Chattogram Sadar range have acquired 335 acres, 1,275 encroachers in Banshkhali range have 1,305 acres, 28 in Chanua range (Chattogram zone) have occupied 99 acres, 8,748 encroachers in Moheshkhali range occupy 3,868.28 acres and 350 illegal occupants in Chanua Range (Cox's Bazar Zone) have 1,925.16 acres. Meanwhile, 20 encroachers in the Kutubdia range have 23.98 acres, 540 occupants in Gorokghata range have 6,318.17 acres while 631 encroachers in Charandwip range have 5,745.20 acres and in the Teknaf range, 99 illegal occupants have 1,273.51 acres of forest land.
However, a range area in Moheshkhali of Cox's Bazar district is hilly and the forest land of Mirsharai range has been allocated to government projects. Hence, these two ranges have not been added to the list of encroached lands.
The forest area of Chattogram has been divided into three parts - Chattogram North, South and Sub-tropical forest. Among these, the Chattogram Coastal Afforestation Division has been developed across Sitakundu, Mirsharai, Banshkhali, Ukhiya, Teknaf, Moheshkhali and coastal areas of Cox's Bazar.
Divisional Forest Officer of Chattogram Coastal Afforestation Division, Mohammad Abdur Rahman said, “About 21,000 acres of land under Chattogram Coastal Afforestation Division has been dispossessed. These lands were mostly occupied between 1985 and from 1992 to 1993.”
“Also, before and after every national election, there has been more land-grabbing as the administration could not disburse resources into these issues. As a result, the encroachers took advantage of this opportunity,” he added.
Abdur Rahman said, “Even if the forest land is occupied, the forest department does not have the power to evict. According to the civil service rules, the district administration has the power to recover occupied land.”
“We have written two memos to the District Commissioner of Chattogram and Cox's Bazar regarding eviction along with the list of encroachers to recover the dispossessed lands. A case has been filed against each encroachment in the Chattogram forest court.”
The officials of the Forest Department said that the coastal forest lands of Chattogram have been occupied mainly due to shrimp farming in Banshkhali, Teknaf, and Cox's Bazar districts. Due to the issuance of a notification called “Shrimp Policy” by former president Hussein Muhammad Ershad in 1985, the businessmen got the opportunity to occupy these lands.
At that time, no permission from the forest department was required if one wanted to cultivate shrimp. The district administration authority could provide the land settlement which resulted in the encroachment, according to the officials.
They said some lands were evacuated with the help of the district administration, but not all of those could be recovered.
Recently, the Coastal Forest Division filed a case in the Chattogram forest court against 6 people including 2 top officials of Unitex Groupd charging them of illegal encroachment and illegal encroachment of forest land, attempt to forcefully construct a dam in the forest land and excavate the soil under the Forest Act, 1927 (as amended in 2000).
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested three people including Unitex Group Director (Legal and Estate) Farhan Ahmed on July 16.
Unitex Group built a facility called “Euro Gas” in the coastal area of Noraliya mouja several years ago. The company claimed a lot of land including the mangrove forests of the area and claimed it as their own.
Chattogram Coastal Afforestation Division filed a case after gathering evidence of encroachment of about 30 acres of land after an on-site investigation. Before the filing, Unitex Group was asked to show the title and registration documents of the land, but the company failed to show any documents.
