Eminent citizens urge PM to intervene Banishanta farmland acquisition

Thirteen eminent citizens have written an open letter to the prime minister, asking for her intervention to stop acquisition of 300 acres of agricultural land by the Mongla Port Authority at Banishanta in Khulna.

In the letter, they said the 300 acres of land of Banishanta union in Dakop upazila is the only source of livelihood for farmers of five villages of the area, but the authorities are in process to acquire the farmland for sand dumping of the Mongla Port Inner Dredging Project.  

To protect the agricultural land of Banishanta from salinity and to increase agri production, the government in 2015 built dams with the help of the World Bank.

But the recent land acquisition initiative contradicts with the prime minister's instruction for protecting the farmland, noting so, the eminent citizens said, "The sand dumping on the land will force more than 1,000 Hindu households to move away."

The signatories of the letter are – Sultana Kamal, human rights activist and president of Bangladesh Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa); Khushi Kabir, coordinator and leader of Nijera Kori; Rasheda K Chowdhury, educator; Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB); Mubasshar Hussein, architect; Shamsul Huda, executive director of Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD); Sara Hossain, lawyer and honorary director, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST); ZI Khan Panna, lawyer and president of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK); Asif Saleh, executive director of Brac, Manindra Kumar Nath, joint general secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council; Kajal Debnath, Adviser at the National Citizen Coordination Cell for Vested Property Act; Hasan Mehdi, chief executive of Clean and Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive at Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).

In the letter, the eminent citizens referred to the port authority who had labelled the agitating farmers as "a vested quarter against development". The authority talked about measures to take legal action against "the quarter" after identifying them.     

The civil society members said Banishanta people, local parliamentarians, local administration or the public representatives are not against the dredging. 

Rather their demand is dumping the sand in an alternative spot to the crop land.

As alternatives, the civil society members suggested Kainmari Mauza in Mongla, proposed area of ​​Khanjahan Ali Airport, proposed Khulna-Mongla six-lane road, proposed EPZ area and Jaimani Chila area. 

They said the sand dumping to any of the alternative sites would save the government a huge amount of money for land development separately.

"It is possible to overcome the issue over the dumping site by accepting the logical demand of the locals instead of intimidating them. We request your intervention in the matter of choosing an alternative non-agricultural land," the wrote to the PM.

"With your intervention, advice and sincerity, we firmly believe that development of Mongla port will be possible while Banishanta's farmland will remain protected at the same time," concluded the letter.