'Spare dwellings, farmlands'

Hundreds of people joined a rally at Char Durgapur Primary School ground in Mymensingh Sadar upazila yesterday to press for the demand to spare their homesteads and farmlands from the recent acquisition list.

They have continued the movement for nearly two months under the banner of Basotbhita and Fasolijami Rokkha Committee against the acquisition move by the administration for infrastructure development for proposed Mymensingh division. 

Although there are vast tracts of khas land on both sides of the Brahmaputra river, the administration has made the acquisition list of some 4366 acres of land, mostly used for cultivating different crops and vegetables round the year, speakers said at the rally.

Some 20,000 families, mostly small and marginal farmers and sharecroppers, would be evicted if the acquisition plan is implemented, they said.

They demanded the use of the khas land on priority basis to save the villagers from losses.

The proposed acquisition area includes vast areas of farmlands and household areas in Char Anandapur, Char Gobindapur, Char Ishwardia, Char Bhawanipur, Char Durgapur, Char Jelkhana and Char Laxmir Algi in Sadar upazila.

Convener of the committee Prof Syed Mosharraf Hossain, Kazi Rafiqul Islam, Abul Mansur, Maulana Fazlul Haque, Nadim Mustafa, Sadequl Islam Sabuj, Shahidul Islam and Dr Harun-or-Rashid addressed the rally, among others.