The district and local administration in a meeting on August 9 informed the committee that about 30,000 land grabbers have occupied over 20,000 acres of public land.

But Land Secretary Lutfur Rahman Talukder in a meeting yesterday informed the parliamentary committee that they had finalised a list of land grabbers of three districts that included names of 10,000 land grabbers, sources said.

Committee Chairman Mahbubur Rahman MP presided over the meeting held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

The committee recommended that the government reform the land management by formulating new laws -- both civil and criminal -- and set up special court on land related crimes to ensure punishment of land grabbers.

Thousands of acres of land worth Tk 60,000 to 70,000 crore are in grabbers' hands now and mainly businessmen, industrialists and local elite are on the list of grabbers, Mahbubur Rahman told a briefing after the meeting.

He could neither provide the list nor tell the total area of land which has been occupied by grabbers in these districts although the committee in the August 9 meeting had decided to disclose the names of the grabbers, most of whom are influential, at its next meeting on August 31.

The grabbers have taken control of the land by force or by fraudulent means, even some grabbers made fake papers with the help of some corrupt officials, ministry officials told the meeting.

According to the district administration, 3,273 grabbers including housing companies are occupying 7,993 acres of land in Dhaka district, 13,745 grabbers have taken control of 4,207 acres of land in Narayanganj district while 8,533 acres of land are under the occupation of 13,934 grabbers in Gazipur district.