Amid a very low success rate in recovering grabbed forest land, the environment, forest and climate change ministry has initiated a long-awaited amendment to the law for empowering the forest department to evict illegal occupants from its properties.
The country has over 63 lakh acres of forest land, of which the forest department managed to recover only about 14 per cent of some 2.57 lakh acres of grabbed areas until August this year.
Of the recovered forest land, just around 2 per cent was retrieved in the past year since the Awami League was ousted from power on August 5.
According to forest department officials, they have been struggling to recover the grabbed forest land despite the absence of political influences as they have no legal authority to carry out any eviction drive.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser for the environment, forest and climate change ministry, on Wednesday told 抖阴精品 that the government was planning to empower the forest department with the legal authority to carry out eviction drives against illegal occupants.
According to forest department data, 2,20,157.35聽 acres of forest land of the total 63,63,309.33 acres across the country were found illegally occupied by various quarters till August.
The Chattogram division recorded the highest volume of grabbed forest land 鈥�78,344.74聽聽 acres -- mostly in the Cox鈥檚 Bazar district while the second highest volume was in the Sylhet division that recorded 49,395.09聽 acres, mostly in the Sylhet district.
Till August, the Dhaka division recorded 45,221.03聽 acres of grabbed forest land, mostly in the Tangail district while the Mymensingh division lost 29, 698.08 acres to grabbers, mainly in the Mymensingh district.
The Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Barishal divisions together recorded 17,497.97聽 acres of grabbed forest land till August.
Of the total grabbed 2,57,298.84 acres of forest land, the department recovered 37,141.49 acres -- mostly in the Chattogram division -- till August, show official data.
Of the recovered forest land, 5,093 acres were retrieved in the one year since the Awami League regime was ousted on August 5 last year.
Political influence had largely been blamed for hindering the department鈥檚 drive against illegal possession of forest land. Besides, land dispute-related trials had also slowed down the recovery process.
According to department data, more than 8,000 cases related to forest land are pending in civil courts and the High Court. Meanwhile, the department鈥檚 7,000 eviction requests before deputy commissioners are also pending.
Admitting that the forest land recovery has so far been not satisfactory considering that a non-political government is running the country, deputy chief conservator of forest Rakibul Hasan Mukul said that the major constraint in recovering occupied forest land is that the department has no power to evict the illegal occupants.
鈥榃e have to depend on the deputy commissioners of the districts where specific land disputes exist because DCs appoint magistrates to operate the eviction drives. In many cases, a magistrate cannot be available due to their other engagements in other government jobs,鈥� Rakibul said.
The recovery of grabbed forest land follows several steps.
First, the forest department, with updated land surveys, files cases with the civil court, mostly under the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act 1950 and the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023.
Environmental law expert Laskar Muqsudur Rahman, said that until there was no infrastructure set up by the grabbers, the forest department could quickly recover its land.
鈥業f the grabbers have set up an infrastructure on the land, its recovery becomes complicated as the department needs the respective deputy commissioner鈥檚 help for the task,鈥� Muqsudur said.聽
The deputy commissioners are authorised to carry out eviction drives in their respective districts as per the Government and Local Authority Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance 1970.
Under the law, a DC issues a notice to the illegal occupants to vacate the place within specific days. In case the place is not vacated within the time, the DC can recover the illegal possession.
According to Muqusudur, the forest department has to recover its land before its classification changed.
He also recommended an amendment to the Government and Local Authority Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance 1970 to empower the forest department with the power of eviction.
The deputy chief conservator of forest highlighted another major problem within the department. He said that the department was not well-equipped to prevent forest land grabbing due to a shortage of manpower at grassroots.
According to the latest data, 927 of the 1,343 posts of foresters and 688 of the 2,528 posts of forest guards remain vacant.
Some forest officials, preferring anonymity, said that a requisition for increasing manpower to 19,000 from the 10,820 approved posts under Revenue was made 10 years ago.
But the requisition lies unfulfilled yet, they said.
