\nReturning from Zakiganj, Jamal Ahmed, Staff Reporter (Sylhet):<\/p>\n
Photos collected. In Zakiganj, Sylhet, allegations have been received against the local upazila administration for granting leases in violation of the water palace policy. This has created a stir.<\/p>\n
It is learned that the Zakiganj upazila administration authorities recently called for the lease of the 20 (twenty) acres of water palaces under Sauljuri, Eralijuri, Kalijuri in Zakiganj upazila at the end of last month. Then the drama began. Without paying any attention to the law and the water palace policy, all these water palaces are being given in the name of an association formed by anonymous so-called external fishermen members under the umbrella of an influential person. A large amount of money is being taken. This puts the real fishermen in extreme trouble. The legal restrictions on the banks near the water palaces are not being respected. And the mastermind behind this is the Assistant Commissioner (Land) of the Upazila Administration, ‘AC Land’ Pranoy Biswas and Cooperative Officer Mohammad Fakhr Uddin. The government field surveyor himself is also involved in this.<\/p>\n
On-site investigation has revealed that Cooperative Officer Fakhr Uddin is not willing to accept gifts below 10 (ten thousand taka) in the name of auditing the association. Whether it is a fishermen’s association or a fishermen’s association is not a matter for him. However, the policy for forming the association is that no association can be formed without fishermen from the area around the Jal Mahal. Of course, those fishermen must be from the area near and on the banks of the Jal Mahal. But it is mysterious but true that under the instigation of an influential rich and scheming person, the AC Land officer and cooperative officer are reluctant to ignore these policies. The name of a so-called Sabuj Kuri Cooperative Association has come up in the investigation. The so-called fishermen president of the association is working in Jannat Park on the west side of Kaliganj Bazar in the upazila. Behind the scenes, he has formed the Sabuj Kuri Samabayo Samity in exchange for a large sum of bribery from outsiders disguised as fishermen. As a result, the real fishermen are losing out to the policy.<\/p>\n
It is alleged that several leaders and activists of the current ruling party are stirring up trouble behind the association. The Jalmahal is being grabbed by exerting pressure on the upazila administration by overcoming the party’s influence. On the other hand, on June 3, the president of Daudpur Pragati Matsjibi Samabayo Samity Zakiganj, Sylhet, himself filed a written complaint with the Upazila Executive Officer seeking redress.<\/p>\n
In the complaint, he mentioned that in the past, he has leased the Sauljuri, Kalijuri, and Eralijuri Jalmahals and harvested fish. He has recently participated in the lease. No decision has been taken on the Jalmahal yet. The other alleged participants are some from Daudpur and Konagram, most of them are outsiders. Among them are people with suits from Kaliganj and Ratanganj areas. They have been illegally harvesting fish in the said ponds and selling them illegally in the name of the association for the past few days, ignoring the law. He filed a complaint seeking redress for this.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, several fishermen who did not want to be named told Pratibadak that for a week, the Sabuj Kuri Association has been carrying out various activities including encroaching on the ponds and harvesting fish before issuing the lease in broad daylight. Rumors are also spreading locally that they have received a lease from the government. At this time, they expressed their anger and said that the AC Land officers and cooperative officers are trying to hand over the ponds to the fishermen without conducting a proper investigation. No rules and regulations of the ponds are of priority to them. They also said that a helpless and extremely poor fisherman’s association member had mortgaged some parts of his house to get money but he did not sell the land, and the corrupt AC Land and Cooperative officer Fakhruddin had also staged a drama about him. The two hungry officials belittled him and took a stand against him. They sought the intervention of higher authorities to get relief from such activities.<\/p>\n
When contacted several times on this matter, Zakiganj Upazila Executive Officer Masudur Rahman on his mobile phone and WhatsApp, he said that no party influence will prevail in granting the lease. The water reservoir will not be leased outside the government rules. Earlier on June 1, he told reporters that if anyone tries to fish or occupy the water reservoir, legal action will be taken. Then he said that I am taking action now, subject to investigation. But he kept the words in his heart and could not see them being implemented. Far from an investigation, ‘whatever is a pumpkin is a pumpkin’! When he was spoken to again on June 3 regarding the lease, he said that the Jalmahal Committee is looking into the matter and when they submit their report, it will be clear what the situation is. When asked about the complaint filed, he said that if anyone objects, the matter will be considered as an appeal. A decision will be taken after verification later. Regarding the granting of the lease, he said that a decision has not been taken yet. If someone says that they have got the lease, it will not happen anymore.
\nWhen talking to AC Land Officer Pranoy Biswas, he first acknowledged the issue of the poor fishermen and tried to avoid other issues at some point. At this time, he got angry with the reporter and said that for some reason the Jalmahal lease cannot be stopped. If you think that work has been done outside the law, then appeal! It is not possible to give other information like this. If you appeal this, it will be given to the appeal authority, brother? Finally, he said, you have understood the mistake!
\nIn response to another question, the reporter said, why should I appeal? Later, he stopped talking without giving any explanation. When talking to cooperative officer Fakhruddin on the phone about this, he avoided the issue of bribery and corruption and said, if someone comes from the cooperative office with a certificate and becomes a fisherman, it may be, it is not my business. Officer AC Land said the same thing about fishermen in a hungry manner.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, when contacted on mobile phone, the president of Daudpur Pragati Matsjibi Samabay Samity, Ranojit Biswas, said that the fishermen have been carrying out various activities including fishing in the said water reservoir for a week. I have informed AC Land sir about this several times but have not received any remedy. Later, I have filed an application with the Upazila Nirbahi Officer. I hope that I will get justice. Regarding the lease, he said that an influential group has become desperate to take the lease of the water reservoir secretly. Nothing is being made to understand. The lease is being called for openly and attempts to give the lease are being made very secretly, that too to the Matsjibi Samabay Samity. He also said that he is currently suffering from extreme insecurity. He and his family members, including the members of the association, can be attacked and involved in cases by the opponents at any time. He also said that he will take refuge in the law.
\nAlways stay connected with the news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Returning from Zakiganj, Jamal Ahmed, Staff Reporter (Sylhet): Photos collected. In Zakiganj, Sylhet, allegations have been received against the local upazila administration for granting leases in violation of the water palace policy. This has created a stir. It is learned that the Zakiganj upazila administration authorities recently called for the lease of the 20 (twenty) acres of water palaces under Sauljuri, Eralijuri, Kalijuri in Zakiganj upazila at the end of last month. Then the drama began. Without paying any attention to the law and the water palace policy, all these<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8283,"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8281\/revisions\/8283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailymorningsun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}