According to a DF report, there is a total of 64,750 acres of forestland in Gazipur and Dhaka districts under Dhaka forest division.

Grabbers occupy some 11,400 acres of forestland out of 63,815 acres in Gazipur district, and 600 acres out of 934 acres in the Savar thana under Dhaka district, said the report sent to the parliamentary standing committee on the land ministry.

"The detailed list of encroachers will be sent to the parliamentary committee after receiving information from field levels," Chief Forest Conservator M Anwarul Islam said in the report.

"We asked the field level officials last month to prepare the list in detail about the situation of land grabbing. But we don't know how we will go ahead," a senior DF official yesterday told The Daily Star wishing anonymity.

It is still uncertain whether the DF will be able to take any action against the encroachers, the official said, adding that the DF is held hostage by the powerful grabbers.

"When we initiate any step against the grabbers, they go the court seeking stay order. Having had a stay order, some powerful grabbers continue their development work on the grabbed land," another DF official said.

Unless the parliamentary body initiates stern government action against the grabbers, it will not be possible to recover the grabbed land from powerful encroachers, he added.