Around 1,200 families have been displaced and received no rehabilitation for the construction of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hi-Tech Park in Rajshahi.
The affected people demanded proper compensation—along with rehabilitation—at a seminar organized by the Life and Nature Safeguard Platform (LNSP) at hotel Warisan, Rajshahi on Saturday.
Md Mukter Hossain, 58, one of those impacted, said: “We have nothing. We live hand-to-mouth. We want rehabilitation from the government.”
Mamun Ur Rashid, 38, another of those affected said: “Suddenly, I was kicked out with my one-year-old child in December 2017. The authority filled my land with sand.
Currently I am living in a village nearby, where I have to share house with another affected family, on one katha land. I have been struggling to pay the rent of my current place.”
For the construction of the Hi-Tech park, the authority acquired 30 acres of khas land at Bulonpur Notun Para area—known as Zia Nagar— in 2017-2018, inside Rajshahi City Corporation.
The authority compensated 600 families Tk50,000-70,000 per family, however, no family received rehabilitation.
Affected people said the provided amount is so small that they hardly can live off of it.
Though they are not the landowners, they have been living there for more than 15 years; and pay holding taxes as well as Wasa bills.
Rina Begom, one of the affected individuals, told Dhaka Tribune: “I work as a domestic helper. I built a concrete house on the land with my hard-earned money. One day, they took everything and only gave me Tk50,000. I have loans but I have no home in which to live.”
Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, convenor LNSP also a lawyer at Supreme Court said: “The government has violated all land-related laws and policy of the country in the process acquiring land. They did not serve any notice before displacing the individuals; the government should not have shown such behavior to its citizens.”
“This land is khas land, and the affected ones were landless, and applied for the ownership, but the government made those people homeless again," he added.
Advocate Murad Murshed, convenor (Rajshahi) Ganosanghati Andolon said: “These are deprived, marginal people. Civil society, media and politicians have failed to recognize their needs and stand with them."
Lnsp member Shamsher Ali, Aparajita Sangita, Lokman Bin Nur, Rashed Ripon, Director, Paripartan—a Rajshahi-based NGO—were present, among others.