Daily Star, 23 July 2002
UNB, Bandarban
The government has suspended allotment of khas land in three hill districts
in a bid to protect the environment.
Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Ministry and Land Ministry have asked the Deputy
Commissioners of Bandarban, Khagrachhari and Rangamati to stop allotment of
khas land in the region.
The decision came following allotment of hundred of acres of land to an influential
group for 100 years by the district administration under an old law in the name
of rubber cultivation and horticulture without permission from the district
councils.
As per the Local Government Council Act 1989, the district councils are responsible
for handling all kinds of land activities. But the councils refrained from giving
any decision to land-related activities leaving some 13,000 cases pending.