RAJSHAHI, Apr 22: Allegations that some people took lease of ponds with false papers and grabbed ponds are mounting at Godagari Upazila of the district.
It was further alleged that some are increasing their land areas by filling up the ponds and some are yet to pay the lease money over the years.
This is the current picture of pond leasing in the upazila where about 3,500 ponds are facing the situation. Lots of corruption reports have been published earlier in this connection. It was known that although the anti-corruption commission investigated the matter several times, the situation hasn't changed, which has angered the local people. In this connection, a local people Walid Ahmed filed an allegation to the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) on March 7 where he mentioned that a local influential person Fazlur Rahman took lease of a 0.47-acre pond and filled it with an aim to increase his land area.
It was known that Fazlur Rahman took lease of the pond by saying fish cultivation. However, he has a land beside the pond, and for cultivating crops, he filled the pond and is now cultivating crops there.
Walid Ahmed filed the allegation to the UNO, but no steps have yet been taken. Most interestingly, Fazlur Rahman filled the pond with the soil of a nearby public road, which created a huge impact among the local people as the road got narrow after this.
Denying the allegation, Fazlur Rahman said, "I didn't fill the pond. I had a land beside the pond, so I just filled the corners of the pond to protect my land from collapse."
Walid Ahmed claimed, "Fazlur Rahman is using the government land whimsically. He can't change the government land as he took the pond lease on the pretext of fish cultivation. Now for his activity, local people are facing trouble."Some allegations were also submitted to the UNO office following different similar cases, but no actions have been taken yet, local people alleged to this correspondent.
They alleged that, of the 3,500 khas ponds, about 3,000 were taken lease by the local leaders of ruling party and its front wings. After taking lease, most of them didn't pay any money against the lease. But Godagari UNO Jahid Newaj denied the allegation of any corruption over taking lease of the ponds. He said, "If any corruption happens over giving false papers to the authority, we will take action against them."
