One of the most praiseworthy jobs the new caretaker government is doing is recovering public property from illegal possession of grabbers and removing encroachments without any fear and favour. As reported in the media this caretaker government has taken initiative to recover all khas land from illegal occupation. This is a very praiseworthy step and deserves top most priority. Bangladesh still is an agrarian economy despite an appreciable industrial (specially RMG) development over the last three decades.

Land plays the most important part in agriculture. But land is a scarce resource for us in the face of a growing population. So whatever quantity of land we have it deserves very judicial utilisation. If much of it remains in illegal possession then envisaged appropriate and productive utilisation remains a far cry.

According to the latest data available the amount of khas land is over 50 lakh acres in the country. This was obtained from Parliamentary Committee on Ministry of Land sources of the past government. However, many assume the amount of khas resources in whole of Bangladesh is much more than this. If it is so then the impact of such huge recovery shall be simply enormous on the economy.

During the consecutive tenure of two past governments, although steps were taken towards recovery of khas land from time to time, but that did not proceed effectively. Things returned to almost square one soon. Rather it was seen that government khas land, Adivasi land, forest land, railway land, WDB land, vested property, court of wards land were indiscriminately occupied, specially during the tenure of the past 'democratic' government.

Rivers, waterbodies, wetlands were encroached upon in different areas of the country. And in the city such criminal practice was on not along the main thoroughfares, market places and water fronts, but also along the narrow lanes to the immense inconvenience of the residents. Unauthorised constructions and encroachments in city lanes and by-lanes need to be taken care of too. Also in congested residential areas of the city some influentials have established unhygienic and hazardous factories of plastics and chemicals without paying any heed to the inconvenience and risk of the helpless residents. These also need to be taken care of.

As the present caretaker government has taken the praiseworthy initiative, it is hoped that proper steps shall be taken to recover govt. khas lands occupied at different times by different means. Now recovery and distribution of such khas land and waterbodies among the most deserving and for appropriate utilisation is a huge task undoubtedly. And most difficult part of this task is perhaps the demarcation, assessment of river erosion and river accretion and distribution thereof among the actual claimants and those who most deserve for appropriate productive utilisation.

Not that earlier no steps have been taken in this regard and how appropriate those were. But before assessing the effectiveness the steps faltered due to intentional indifference and anomalies, false allotment, party priority, influential overlordship etc. And all this have not, quite naturally, yielded any nationally desired results. The non-party caretaker government appears to be the right authority to do the right thing in this regard. And this appears to be the right time. In fact over the years, rather decades, partisan politics (consideration) has done more harm that benefit to the nation even in a democracy. Without development of the most neglected and the most deprived no national development is worth its name.

Earlier in the name of taking steps laws also were enacted in this regard. But that also could not yield result to the national benefit. For instance, the Alluvion and Dilluvion Law of 1994. Apparently it seems almost an appropriate step. But at the time of distributing the char lands the anomaly is created. This was not pro-poor, rather opposite. It removed the earlier possessors and settled new ones, many under political (party) consideration. The bill was passed without much deliberations and scrutiny of nitty-gritty. On overall consideration it seems it is better to go back to the 1972 Alluvion and Dilluvion Act in the interest of the poor, the majority people of this country and to the overall benefit of the country's economy.

We the people and the government of the country should not allow the number of landless people to swell. The trend must be arrested. Recovery of the govt. khas land from illegal occupation and distribution of the same among the genuine landless people, establishing their right, shall arrest the trend of rural to urban migration to a significant extent. The anomalies and malpractices continuing in our land administration for eons should be removed, if necessary adopting new laws that benefit the majority who are poor and simple. Eminent policymakers, economists, researchers in the country believe that appropriate land administration can lead to significant poverty reduction in the country. It is believed the present caretaker government shall take some praiseworthy steps in this direction too, but to sustain the good effects some such laws may be needed that no vested quarter any time dare to undo that.

In his "Political Economy of Khas Land" eminent economist and researcher Dr Abul Barakat maintains, the economic value of all khas land of the country lies in its optimum utilisation and thereafter expected impact on poverty alleviation. Therefore, land administration, specially recovery of govt. khas land from usurpers' hands and distribution among the landless farmers and establishing their right thereof for maximum yield is perhaps the most effective tool to alleviate poverty, assumably the most major problem of the country.

Md Abdul Kader is Executive Director, Samata.