Mirpur Botanical Garden

The parliamentary standing committee on the environment and forests ministry heard on Saturday that corrupt forestry department officials have fraudulently allocated the land to a private company and that the unlawful occupants have built a business establishment on the land thus appropriated.

This is only the latest in a long line of recent revelations that demonstrate the scale of the problem the government faces with respect to the unlawful allocation of public land for private gain. We recently wrote about the dredging of the Buriganga which has unearthed scores of claimants to the rivers banks and even the river channel itself. In that case, it was allegedly officials in the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner's office who had originally 'deacquisitioned' land.

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It is clear, therefore, that in large part, the problem originates from official corruption and collusion with the grabbers. The government must take immediate steps to curb this kind of egregious official misconduct. There can be no greater example of abuse of power and dereliction of one's official duties than to actively collude for private gain in the pillaging of land that is held for the benefit of the public.

The government must institute uniform standards to guide the allotment of public land and do everything in its power to bring to justice those responsible for these gross abuses of power. To betray the public trust by colluding in the unlawful grant of public land to private individuals at great cost to the nation is utterly unacceptable.