12,000 acres of Gazipur Forest land in grabbers’ hands

At least 59 owners of industries and other powerful individuals grabbed a 12,321-acre area of the 66,800-acre  Gazipur Forest, a parliamentary standing committee revealed Thursday.
The chairman of the committee on environment and forest ministry, Hasan Mahmud, MP, said this at a news briefing.
He told reporters after the 17th meeting of the standing committee that in the previous meeting held on August 27, the committee asked the forest department to provide it with  a list of grabbers of Gazipur forest land and how much land was in their illegal possession.
He said that the forest department informed the committee that 12,321 acres  forest land in Gazipur had been grabbed by 59 industry owners and other powerful individuals.
The forest department also informed the committee that  the grabbers set up industries on forest land in eight mouzas in Gazipur, he said.
The forest department informed the committee grabbed forest lands were mostly at Gazariapara, Nanduain, Masterbari, Banglabazar, Bhaoraid, Rajendrapur Chowrasta, Bhawal Mirzapur, Bahadurpur, Porabari, Natunbazar, Bhabanipur, Shirirchala, Bikebari and Baupara areas under eight mouzas of Joydevpur, and Gazipur Sadar.
The forest department informed the committee that the grabbers included Nestle Bangladesh Limited, MacDonald Bangladesh limited, Health Care Pharmaceutical Limited, Partex Denim Limited, Nitol Tata Group, Givenchy Group, Atlas Food and Beverage Limited,  Bengal Garments Limited, National Feed Limited, Gordon Steel Mills, Nisorgo Picnic Spot, Artisan Ceramic Industries Limited, Dhaka Fisheries Limited, Index Construction Limited and Greentech Resorts.
Ahmed Arefin Rafi, executive director of Greentech Resort located at Bhabanipur in Gazipur, said that they did not grab the land of forest rather they bought the land from individual owners for setting up the resort.
Standing committee member Tipu Sultan, MP, told New Age that the industries were set on forest land without permission.
He said that the forest department had been asked to identify and provide a comprehensive list of the grabbers of Gazipur Forest land at the next hearing of the standing committee.
Tipu said that the forest department had been asked to provide exhaustive information of grabbed forest lands in Cox’s Bazaar and elsewhere in the country.
The standing committee chairman said that the government would recover forest land and take action against the grabbers.

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