Hassle, harassment-the other name of land record office
People coming from different upazilas stand in a long queue to collect parcha (survey document) of their land from the record room of Manikganj deputy commissioner's office. right, service seekers sleep on the premises of the record room with hope to avail the opportunity early next day as they failed to get the parcha even after maintaining all the official formalities due to alleged tricks played by dishonest staff. Photo: STAR
People coming to the district land record office to get parcha (survey document) of their land are forced to give bribe for the purpose as a syndicate of employees and their brokers cause intentional delay and harass the service seekers in different ways. During a recent visit to the record office at night, this correspondent found several people lying, some of them sleeping, under the open sky on the premises of the deputy commissioner's office, beside the record room. Hearing arrival of a journalist, they got up to narrate their sufferings. They alleged that the record room employees have made an unofficial 'rule' to take Tk 500 for delivery of a parcha and adopt different tricks to realise the bribe. Md Ratan Mia, a poor farmer of Angurpara village under Baliakhora union of Ghior upazila, came to the record room of the deputy commissioner's office at around 4:00am for standing in a queue to take parcha from there. "My serial number was 50. The office closed at around 1:00pm after completing serial No 49. Now I am staying here at night along with some other people like me to get the parcha the next day," he said. During the last Ramadan, private company employee Afzal Hossain, son of Nurul Islam of Kafatia village of Manikganj Sadar upazila, came to the record room at 4:00am to be at the head of the long line to get the parcha of his land. He stood in the line, his serial number being 40. "But a broker demanded Tk 3,000 from me for delivery of six parchas. As I declined, the broker made my serial No 60 instead of 40," he alleged. Even after staying there for two days under the open sky while observing fast amid problem to take sehri and iftar, he failed to get parcha, he said. Quite a few others have similar tales to tell. At around 10:00pm one night, Deputy Commissioner Munshi Shahabuddin Ahmed came to the record room premises to see for himself that several people were staying there, with hope to avail the front places in the line to get parcha the next day. Overall situation, however, did not improve much even after that, said several sufferers. "After failing to get my parcha, I gave Tk 500 to record room employees and they provided it to me immediately," said Abdar Hossain, son of Helal Uddin of Gobindal village in Singair upazila. Dewan Mizanur Rahman, a lawyer of Manikganj District Judge's Court, said, "My chamber is situated beside the record room. Many people are seen in front of the room even late at night as people coming from different parts of the district have to wait for days to get their parcha." When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Munshi Shahabuddin Ahmed said he has already directed the official concerned to solve the matter soon. The official concerned, Executive Magistrate Kamrul Hasan said, "We are trying to find out the brokers and ensure smooth delivery of parcha to the people concerned."
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