Sources quoting reports of the district authorities said they have named 17 developers grabbing 276 acres of government land.

The Dhaka district administration in its report said it has identified 261 acres of public land to be recovered from grabbers. It also accused nine developers of grabbing 238 acres.

In its report, the district administration of Narayanganj said it has identified 4,207 acres of land to be recovered. It accused three developers of grabbing over 20 acres.

The Gazipur district authorities' report said they have identified 1,363 acres of land for recovery. It blamed five developers for grabbing over 18 acres.

The reports said the authorities of the three districts have filed 164 criminal cases against the land grabbers and are going to lodge another 159 cases.

The parliamentary standing committee on land ministry discussed the reports at a meeting yesterday.

Committee Chairman and ruling BNP lawmaker Mahbubur Rahman later told reporters some developers grabbed over 2,000 acres of government land in Savar.

Amin Mohammad Foundation, Northern Holdings, Ashulia Model Town, Probhabti Housing and others have grabbed the land, he said quoting the district administration.

Besides developers, industries have grabbed land, he added.

"We visited Savar on January 7 and found a few developers grabbed large areas of government land," the committee chairman said.

"Then we asked the district administrations to report in detail the status of grabbed lands in the three districts."

The Dhaka district administration in its report said nine developers have grabbed 238 acres of public land in Dhaka Metropolitan area and Savar upazila.

Jamuna Builders grabbed 19.26 acres, Metro Makers Development 24.28 acres, Amin Mohammad Foundation 3.32 acres, Samatat Housing 13.80 acres, Eastern Housing 69 acres, East West Property Development Ltd. 102 acres, Chan Mia Housing 1.05 acres, Fercon Real State 1.33 acres, and Mohammadia Housing Society has grabbed 2.45 acres, it said.

In Narayanganj, New Town Residential Project has grabbed 1.59 acres, Ananda Meghna City 8.38 acres, and Ananda Builders 11.44 acres, the district administration's report said.

In Gazipur, Dhaka University Samabay Samity has grabbed .88 acres Southern Development Property Ltd. 5.09 acres, Hi-tech Garden 5.45 acres, Plash Griha Nirman Samabay Samity 5.69 acres and Parijat Housing Ltd. .32 acres.