Rakibul Hasan, Puthia (Rajshahi)

Due to irregularities and negligence of land officials in Puthia, Rajshahi, ponds are being dug in crop lands and the shape of the land is being changed.

The ponds are being used for commercial fish farming and the pond rent is being collected as paddy field land. Due to this, the government is being deprived of collecting a huge amount of revenue from commercial ponds every year. It is known that the total agricultural land area of Puthia upazila is 36,565 acres.

There are a total of four union land offices in the six UPs of the upazila. In the last few years, ponds have been dug on about 13,000 acres of rice, orchards, and vita land under the land offices. Of these, ponds have been dug on about 11,000 acres of rice land in Shilmaria and Bhalukgachhi UPs. However, the Upazila Land Office could not provide any exact statistics on how many acres of land have been dug into ponds in the last few years.

The Upazila Land Office says that according to government rules, since 1422, paddy land has been taxed at the rate of two taka per cent. The tax on commercial ponds has been charged at the rate of 40 taka per cent in municipal areas and 30 taka in union areas.

The government is being deprived of collecting a large amount of revenue from the newly dug commercial ponds in the upazila every year. Farmer Jamir Uddin of the Pachamaria area of Shilmaria Union said that it is very difficult to say exactly how many new ponds have been dug in this area in the last few years. However, most of the rice lands in Shilmaria have been dug into new ponds now.

A person named Shamsuddin in the village of Chhatrarpara in Shilmaria said that the landowners have made agreements with the pond diggers and dug them in the hope of more profit. Later, fish farmers have been cultivating fish commercially.

Ponds have been dug at the place where the water of some such bills comes out. This will prevent the water from flowing out of many lands in the coming monsoon season and will remain waterlogged. Locals allege that past and present political party leaders, while giving annual financial benefits to dishonest employees of the union land office, are collecting rent from the newly dug ponds as rice land.

An upazila civil servant who did not want to be named said, "We are having to allow ponds to be dug due to political pressure. The relatives and close people of the leaders are selling the soil from the ponds to brick kilns and turning them into banana trees. Then they are putting pressure on us from different quarters. We have come to work in this area." Mollapara Union Land Officer Aminul Islam said, "

The issue of taking rent from rice land for commercial ponds in exchange for money is a complete lie. Most of the new ponds dug in the last few years have been collected as rice land." Currently, there is a rush to dig new ponds in different places in the upazila. We are collecting rent as rice as per the previous list. Mollapara Union Land Officer Pranab Kumar said, the pond owners have not submitted any application to us for changing the size of the land. We are forced to collect rent as rice land. Until the Deputy Commissioner and Upazila Land Officer give instructions on the digging of new ponds and rent, rent is being collected according to the old rules.

Upazila Fisheries Officer Tanjimul Islam said, no one tells us where new ponds are being dug in the upazila. Upazila Agriculture Officer Smriti Rani Sarkar said, we do not know where ponds are being dug.

The cropland of the upazila is determined according to the agricultural census. In this regard, Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Debashish Basak said, no matter what the category of the land is. Union land officers have been ordered to collect rent according to the current size of the land.