Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the government wants to develop a hassle-free land management system in the country so that mass people do not suffer in any way.

“We want to develop a system so that people must not face unnecessary harassment and sufferings, and don’t have to move from one office room to another,” she said.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating the Bhumi Bhaban of Land Ministry, land office buildings at upazila and making union-level activities online land development tax payment and land data bank.

The programme was organised at Osmani Memorial Auditorium when she joined the programme from her official residence Ganobhaban.

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The Prime Minister asked the officials concerned to build every land office at the upazila level afresh. “Those which are still left need to be done quickly through taking projects.”

She said the government has taken initiatives to construct 139 upazila land offices and 129 of which have been completed.

To provide services to people, Hasina said, the government is implementing a project to construct 1,498 land offices at the union level and 995 of those have been completed.

The PM said the aim of the government is to build the country into a developed and prosperous one by 2041.

To make the land management system developed and world-class one, the government has taken three projects to digitise it, she said. 

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The projects are:  Land Management Automation project, Strengthening Capacity of the Land Record and Survey Department project and Plot and Mouja-based National Digital Land Survey project.

“On completion of the projects, there’ll be an epoch-making change in the land management system and a complete digitisation of the overall management will be possible,” she said.

The Prime Minister said people had been suffering for years after years while trying to avail themselves of land-related services, leading to various social problems.

But the Awami League government, coming to power in 2009, took multifaceted measures to digitize land management as part of its election manifesto and vision-2021 to build digital Bangladesh, she said.

Hasina hoped that the projects inaugurated today would play a very important role in building developed and prosperous digital Bangladesh and ensuring desired land-related services for the citizens.

As the government has digitized and reformed the land management system, the land owners would be able to avail of various services from home online, she added.

Referring to virtual record rooms with four crore 92 lakh digitized Khatians, the Prime Minister said, anyone from any corner of the country can collect his or her desired Khatian from there.

Mentioning the ongoing data entry activities of the three crore holdings, she said, the data entry of nearly one crore holdings has already been completed, and the work to complete the remaining one is on.

On completion of these projects, the Prime Minister said, all the mouja-based data of the land offices in unions and municipalities will be preserved, ensuring transparency and accountability in overall land management.

Describing her government’s success in digitalizing the land management, she said, the UN recognized the Ministry of Land with “United Nations Public Service Award 2020” for implementing the e-mutation system.

Hasina said her government has been working to develop every sector, including land, with a farsighted plan and responsibility towards people.

On the other hand, she said, those who grab state power coming from nowhere have no responsibility towards the country’s people and they do nothing for the welfare of the commoners.

Turning to economic activity, Hasina said the wheel of the national economy is moving although coronavirus has caused a setback. “We didn’t stop, though we couldn’t do what we could do during the normal time.”

She expressed her firm resolve not to be stopped and take the country further towards prosperity. “We’ve taken the farsighted Delta Plan 2100 and Bangladesh will continue its march forward with an irresistible pace,” she said.

Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Land Ministry M Moqbul Hossain and Land Secretary Md Mustafizur Rahman also spoke at the programme.

A documentary on the land reforms of the country was screened at the programme.