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SANGSAD BHABAN, February 6, 2024 (BSS)-Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury today said the government is pledge bound to recover all the 2.57 lakh acres encroached land from the grabbers.

“We already have taken measures to recover the encroached forest land and 27,000 acres of land have already been recovered…and the process to recover rest grabbed land is now underway”, said the minister.

The minister replied this while responding to a supplementary question raised by opposition Jatiya Party Chief Whip Mujibul Huq of Kishorganj-3 during the question-answer session at the Jaitya Sangsad with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

Referring to the issue as very much important, the ministers said around 2,57000 acres of land have already been encroached and a full-fledged list of the grabbers has been prepared according to a survey.

 For carrying out any further development activities, Chowdhury said most of the development activities including construction of roads, installation of electricity distribution poles are being conducted using the protected forest land and resulting in the deforestation is being occurred in this way.

So, in future the concerned authorities must have to mention the nature of land in their project profile when they [the authorities]will conduct acquisition of the forest land, said the minister, adding that it will help to raise awareness among the officials when it will go to the Planning Commission.

Replying to another supplementary question raised by the treasury bench lawmaker SM Ataul Huque of Satkhira-4, the environment minister said “the government has a plan to conserve the Sundarbans, the world heritage, with the joint initiative led by Bangladesh and India.

As the Sundarbans is a unique ecological area and it is now divided by a river, so it will require joint initiatives of Bangladesh and India, he told the parliament.

To reduce the air pollution of the Dhaka city, the government has already identified the brickklins which is being operated in traditional method as country’s 13 lakh metric tonnes top soil is being used for manufacturing bricks.

The minister said while replying to another question raised by Sayeed Khokon MP of Dhaka-6.