MYMENSINGH, Feb 25: Reiterating their demand for a fair list of land acquisition for divisional activities, the speakers at a rally on Friday said, their movement to protect homesteads and farmlands will be continued until the demand is realised.
"We repeatedly appealed to the administration and many political leaders of the district to consider the recently proposed acquisition list but none heard us," said speakers in the rally which was held on Renaissance Girls High School premises at Anandipur village in Sadar upazila.
Thousands of char people including a large number of women have been continuing their movement for over four months under the banner of 'Basotbhita and Fasolijomi Rokhha Committee' to realise their demands.
The proposed acquisition area includes vast tracts of farmland and household areas in Char Anandipur, Char Gobindapur, Char Ishwardia, Char Bhawanipur, Char Durgapur, Char Jailkhana and Char Laxmir Algi in Sadar upazila.
There are some 20,000 families in the listed villages and most of those comprise of small and marginal farmers and sharecroppers, locals said.
"We have been demanding for a balanced acquisition list involving four unions on the bank of Brahmaputra River but the administration is yet to respond," they also alleged.
"To avoid serious losses on agriculture and farmlands, we are also urging the administration to use the vast tract of khas lands on both sides of the river but the administration is doing nothing in this connection," they also told in the rally.
We will not spare even an inch of the land if the list is not prepared in a balanced way, they said.
Urging the administration to implement the first phase earlier taken for divisional activities, the speakers also vowed for tougher movement if their demands are not fulfilled immediately. The administration has made the list of 4366 acres of land than the earlier list of 1220 acres, mostly in Char Sirta union but now it is time when the government is trying to save farmland from unplanned human settlements, they said.
The rally was addressed, among others, by Committee Convener Professor Syed Mosharraf Hossain, Nadim Mustafa, Shahidul Islam, Maulana Fazlul Haque, Fazlur Rahman, Dr Harun-or-Rashid, Professor Habibur Rahman, Golam Kibria, Khorshed Khan, Shah Alam Badsha.
Aftab Uddin Ahmed presided over the rally.
