Industries ministry says vested quarter use Santals

The industries ministry on Monday claimed that a vested quarter had instigated Santals to grab lands of sugar mill at Gaibandha and the land does not belonged to the Santals. The ministry’s senior secretary M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan at a news conference at Shilpa Bhaban came up with the comments following widespread protests over the attack on Santals at Sahebganj of Gobindaganj in Gaibandha. He said the Santals who were evicted from Rangpur Sugar Mill’s land were owner of the land rather used as tool by a vested quarter to occupy land. ‘They were staying there illegally. So they were removed. No attack was carried out at their localities. Only illegal grabbers were removed with the help of law enforcers,’ he said. The secretary said the ministry favored a peaceful resolution to the problem and mediation attempts were carried out but those failed. He said the ministry had requested the home ministry to recover the sugar mill land.  He also said loss of lives and properties during the drive was less than anticipated. The secretary said vested quarters had told the Santals that they would recover land of their forefathers and instigated them to occupy land acquired by the government. There is no record of Santals to support their claim.

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