Plot allotment
M Amin Debi Das Ghat Lane, Dhaka
It has been more than eight years and a half since we responded to a call by the Directorate of Housing and Settlement for application for plot allotment in Mohammadpur F block from middle class and lower middle class people. I personally deposited an amount of Tk 30,000/ ( Thirty thousand only) on 13 Jan 2005 with the hope that I might be fortunate enough in the lottery for a plot in the aforesaid area. But unfortunately, the authorities have nearly forgotten their commitment and obligation. We have seen the haste and enthusiasm with which the successive governments took measures to entertain the affluent people and high-ups with allotments in Gulshan, Baridhara and Uttara. It seems nobody speaks for us, not even the newspapers. Had we kept the money we deposited for the plots in fixed deposits, it would have already been doubled!The Directorate of Housing must have kept the money in banks. The question is: where will the interests out of this huge amount of money go? Are we not entitled for compensation at the same rate we would have got from fixed deposits? I assume the Judiciary has a role to play in this matter. I request through your paper the Honourable Chief Justice to step in and take measures to compel the Housing Directorate to allot plots among the applicants as soon as possible. I request the Honourable Chief Justice to intervene because we will never be able to fight the government which is not at all concerned about its commitments. When the Directorate of Housing & Settlement called for application with certain amount of deposits, it also at the same time indirectly or directly became legally obliged to go for allotment procedure. The Directorate of Housing & Settlement did not even bother to come up with any explanation about its inability to honour its legal obligations. I demand that they apologise to the applicants in public and come up with clear explanation about the inordinate delay they are making and announce an immediate time-table for lottery, allotment and hand over of the plots. I also demand that they compensate adequately those who will not get the plots through a transparent lottery process. I know this letter will have no impact at all because government agencies are least bothered about what we people say in this column. I hope you will probe the matter and publish a report and an editorial on the problem. This is the only way the government can be awakened to the problem that we are facing and the need for doing something about it.
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