CHITTAGONG, Oct 22: The Land Acquisition (LA) section of the Chittagong district administration has turned into a safe haven for various crimes and irregularities including bribery.
On Tuesday last, the Land Acquisition (LA) Authority of Chittagong District Administration and Police jointly beefed up security measures and installed six more Close Circuit TV (CCTV) cameras in the court area to monitor it following a threat that the Chittagong court building, which also houses the divisional commissioner and deputy commissioner offices, would be blown up.
On the other hand, the recent seizure of Tk 5.8 million from a youth at the Chittagong Court Building on October 14 revealed the horrifying activities of syndicate of surveyors and Kanungos deceiving people in the name of surveying.
The government acquired huge lands for using in public interests, like construction, widening and extension of roads, and other development projects in the district. A section of surveyors and Kanungos are now deceiving the owners who acquired the lands for the development projects by regularly taking bribes from them in the name of measuring the lands.
The vested quarter has created a strong syndicate in the district administration of Chittagong. The members of this section have bagged millions of taka, taking bribes from the common people also.
According to the district administration sources, works are going on in 50 development projects in the district notably at Outer Ring Road, Chittagong Road four-lane projects, Mariners Bypass Road, Asian Women's University project, Approach Road construction and several others for which the district administration has acquired a vast areas of land.
The cost of the compensation of those acquired land is more than Tk 6 billion.
The district administration has already formed a probe team with Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Md Abul Hossain to investigate the matter. Md Abul Hossain would look into the alleged involvement of LA section employees with the suspected 'bribe'.
Meanwhile, the money laundering case of seizure of Tk 5.8 million in the Chittagong Court Building has been sent to the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) for further investigation on October 21 last. The Divisional Director of ACC has sent the file to the central office in Dhaka for approval.
With the approval of the ACC, the investigation will begin after appointment of an Investigating Officer.
Meanwhile, the administration has already transferred a total of twelve employees of the land acquisition (LA) section. Of the transferred employees, 10 are surveyors while the two are Kanungos.