Agricultural land in the country may be used for any purpose other than agriculture

 A private member’s bill has been placed in parliament in a bid to ensure the proper use and protection of agricultural land across Bangladesh.

Jatiya Party lawmaker Rowshan Ara Mannan placed the “Protection and Usage of Agricultural Land Bill, 2022” on Thursday, reports BSS.

Speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury then sent it to the parliamentary standing committee concerned for scrutiny.

Private members' bills are bills introduced by lawmakers who are not government ministers.

If this bill becomes a law, no agricultural land in the country may be used for any purpose other than agriculture, or rented, leased, or transferred for any other purpose.

However, this provision would not apply to the construction of houses for private residences, graveyards, crematoriums, other places of religious burial, and religious institutions.

The bill has a provision for the formation of a supervisory committee, which would be headed by the local upazila administration chief (UNO).

Any person violating any provision of the proposed law would face three-year imprisonment or a fine of Tk50,000.

If anyone builds an industrial factory, road, housing, or any other facility on agricultural land, the supervisory committee would issue a notice and order its demolition.

The bill also stipulates that no compensation will be paid for the demolition, regardless of what any other law may state.

The amount of arable land in the country is shrinking due to population growth, industrialization, urbanization, and various other reasons.

According to government data, agricultural land accounted for more than 65% of total land in 1980. Four decades later, in 2019, it came down to 59%.