Editorial
Land survey in the CHT
The right timing for it
THE administration's decision to conduct land survey in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), has now come under the scrutiny of experts and advocacy groups.
The purpose of conducting any land survey is to demarcate the boundaries of the landed properties under both private and public ownership. Experts at a recently held seminar called for first settling the prevailing land related disputes between the indigenous population and the settlers, who hail from the Bengali community in the plain lands before conducting the survey.
In the case of CHT, there is the question of rights and stakes of both the tribal people and settlers from the plain land. It is to be noted that a large chunk of the tribal population comprises of returnees from their refuge in the Tripura state of West Bengal in India. Then there is also the issue of the tribals who stayed back. So adding to those the issue of Bengali settlers from the plains, the entire problem of land settlement gets knottier with the possibility of claims and counter claims. All these necessitates adoption of a very prudent approach towards its solution. One cannot lose sight of the fact here that the tribal people's involvement in the process is best guaranteed if done in accordance with the CHT peace accord which underscores the need for resolving land disputes and has laid down broad principles for this purpose. The land commission is tasked with this job which can be most effectively performed if elected regional council, district councils and the circle chiefs are associated in the process. It is, therefore, essential that the local body elections in the CHT are held sooner rather than later.
Since peace and development are the ultimate goal in the region, especially with the present government in office, which had also inked the peace deal with the representative body of the tribal population when it was in power in 1997, the administration would do well to involve the indigenous people's representatives in the important decision-making processes. That would make the work of dispute resolution and survey more credible and acceptable to all concerned.
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