Jan 24, 2019

Chittagong Hill Tracts: Land Acquisition Act Approved by the Cabinet


On 22 January 2019, the cabinet approved in principle the draft of the Act that regulates the compensation for land acquisition in the CHT region. While previously the difference of compensation for acquisition of land in hills and in plain areas was as big as 285% (as 15% was given to hill areas and 300% to plain ones), the ordinance that is now to become law finally extinguishes this enormous disparity, establishing a 300% of compensation for all lands. The UNPO welcomes the cabinet’s decision as an indication of progress to addressing the land issue in the CHT.

The article below was published by the Business News 24 bd:

 

The cabinet today [22 January 2019] in principle gave the final approval to “The draft of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Land Acquisition) Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2019” removing disparity in compensation for land acquisition in the hills and plain land.

“An ordinance to this end was promulgated at the end of the previous (Awami League) government. . . It will now be turned into a law,” Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told reporters after the maiden meeting of the new cabinet.

Alam said earlier 15 percent compensation was given for acquisition of land in the hills, while the amount was 300 percent in the case of plain land. The ordinance fixed 300 percent compensation for land acquisition both in hill and plain land areas, he said.

He said the cabinet also in principle gave final endorsement to the draft of “The Brick Making and Kiln Setting Up (Control) (Amendment), Act, 2018”.

He said the cabinet earlier approved the law and it was promulgated as an ordinance.

“The draft law was placed before the cabinet today as there is a legal obligation to submit it to the Jatiya Sangsad,” he said.

The cabinet secretary said the cabinet also gave final approval to the draft of “The Jatiya Samajkalyan Parishad Act, 2018”.

Jatiya Samajkalyan Parishad, he said, has been running since 1956 through a resolution and it was reconstituted in 1972.

“The parishad (council) has been running through a government decision as there was no law to this effect. So a new law has been proposed to run the parishad smoothly,” he said.

Under the proposed law, the cabinet secretary said, there will be an 84-member governing body of the council to be headed by the social welfare minister. The council will have to hold at least two meetings in a year, Alam said.

The cabinet secretary said the cabinet approved the draft of the national Action Plan on the disabled people in the light of the ‘Persons with Disabilities Rights and Protection Act 2013’ and the ‘Persons with Disabilities Rights and Protection Rules 2015’.

He said the law has been proposed to ensure the smooth accessibility of the persons with disabilities to the public transports and establishments like educational institutions, hospitals, bus, launch and rail stations, airports, land ports and river ports, cyclone shelters, cultural function venues, places of worships and flyovers.

Replying to a question, Alam said the quota for the disabled people still exists in the government jobs. “The provision still exists there and it is yet to be curtailed,” he said, adding that any law cannot be superseded through an administrative order.

Alam said the cabinet approved the draft speech of President Abdul Hamid for the inaugural session of the 11th Parliament, which will start on January 30 next.

The cabinet secretary said full speech will have some 75,000 words, which will be tabled in the House at the maiden session of the new Parliament.

But the President will read out the short version of his written speech having 6,000 words in Parliament.

The speech will focus on the country’s overall scenario including economic development and activities, the government’s measures taken to establish good governance, the activities taken for implementing the Vision 2021 and the Vision 2041, and the government’s measures and successes in improvement of the country’s socioeconomic status, he said.

Alam said the cabinet okayed the draft of “The Bangladesh Industrial and Technical Assistance Center Act, 2018.

He said at the outset of the meeting, the cabinet adopted an obituary reference at the death of former public administration minister, valiant freedom fighter and ex-Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam.

“Syed Ashraf was a valiant freedom fighter and ideal politician and his death is an irreparable loss to the nation,” the cabinet secretary said, quoting the reference.

 

Photo courtesy of Travelmag.com