Govt asked to use khas lands to set up special economic zone in Habiganj

Politicians, academics and professionals on Monday called on the Awami League-led government to abandon 511 acres of agricultural land acquisition project of two tea estates in Habiganj for setting up a special economic zone.
They told the government to retreat from the scheme at a roundtable discussion in the city.
Communist Party of Bangladesh and Socialist Party of Bangladesh jointly organised the roundtable at CPB central office where speakers urged the government to allow the workers of Chandpur and Begum Khan tea gardens to cultivate the lands adjacent to the gardens for their living.
Those lands were used by the tea estate workers on mutually agreed terms between the workers and the garden owners.
Razequzzaman Ratan, the central leader of the SPB, readout the keynote paper where he said the government was contemplating to set up a special economic zone at Chunarughat in Habiganj using the land of the tea workers.
The tea workers are underpaid and that they have been maintaining their livelihoods by cultivating the lands for a long time. The speakers argued that the government can use khas (government) land to establish such an economic zone.
The CPB president, Mujahidul Islam Selim, who chaired the roundtable, said that the CPB and SPB would announce greater movement, expressing their solidarity with tea farm workers.
Jahangirnagar University teacher and economist Anu Muhammad said the government must think carefully if they want to use ever diminishing arable lands to set up industries.
‘We must prioritize the issue of food security over setting up industrial zones on agricultural lands,’ he said.
Khalequzzaman, general secretary of the SPB, said the businessmen of home and abroad would get industrial plots at lower prices after the special economic zone is built.
Columnist Abu Syeed Khan, called on the left parties to wage movements to make this cause a national concern.
The CPB central leader Joly Talukder, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front president Janardan Dutta, Chhatra Union general secretary GM Gilani, University Tea Students’ Association general secretary Swapan Nandi spoke at the programme.

- See more at: http://newagebd.net/188276/govt-asked-to-use-khas-lands-to-set-up-special-economic-zone-in-habiganj/#sthash.zVx6hTq9.dpuf