The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Land Ministry on Thursday suggested taking necessary steps to free the land, waterbodies and ponds from illegal occupation across the country.The parliamentary watchdog in its 17th meeting came up with the recommendation with its chairman Makbul Hossain MP in the chair at the Parliament Bhaban.It also recommended taking steps to recruit lawyers for handling government cases related to land. JS body for recruiting necessary manpower in CMHsElaborate discussion was held in the meeting on ‘Land Development Tax Bill-2023 and the illegally occupied land, water bodies and ponds across the country.The committee suggested placing the Land Development Tax Bill-2023 before the parliament with some addition and amendment. JS body recommends forming committee to rename roads, culverts after Freedom FightersMembers of the committee Saifuzzaman Chwodhury, Manoronjan Sheel Gopal, Habibor Rahman, Umme Fatema Nazma Begum, Ziaur Rahman, Khan Ahmed, Secretary to the land ministry, chairman of Land Reformation Board, representatives of legislative and parliament affairs department and official concerned of the parliament secretariat were present there.Acquisition and Tenancy (Amendment) Bill passed in JS to ease case backlog

Some 3214 acres of land of Bangladesh Railway are now under the clutches of land grabbers across the country, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan told Parliament on Tuesday. “The amount of unused (fallen) land of Bangladesh Railways is 10,843.15 acres and 3,213.78 acres of land remain under illegal occupation,” he said replying to a written question from BNP MP Aminul Islam (Chapainawabganj-2). Read: Public Debt Bill lands in Parliament Of the illegally occupied land, the highest 620 acres are in Rajshahi district, 321 acres in Rajbari, 282 acres in Sirajganj, 280 acres in Bagerhat, 210 acres  in Kurigram, 183 acres in Chattogram, 154 acres in Faridpur, 143 acres in Pabna, 128 acres in Gaibandha, 113 acres in Nilphamari, 106 acres in Lalmonirhat, 103 in Jhenaidah and 56 acres in Kushtia.   The amount of illegally occupied land is less than 50 acres in other districts, according to the statistics placed by the Minister in the House. Responding to a starred question from Jatiya Party MP Shameem Haider Patwary (Gaibandha-1), the Railways Minister said drives are being conducted to recover the  grabbed railway land. Read:Patents bill placed in Parliament In reply to a written question from Awami League MP Didarul Alam (Chattogram-4), the Railways Minister said the government will collect 400 more modern coaches –-200 broad-gauge and 200 meter-gauge—for Bangladesh Railways within the next two years with the fund of European Investment Bank and the Tenders Financing. He said a project is underway now to collect 150 meter-gauge and 100 broad-gauge passenger coaches from South Korean and China respectively.