Medical College in marshland, for the sake of 'unscrupulous sand trade'

Although the Chandpur Medical College was set up four years ago, using the district’s Sadar Hospital as its temporary campus, the process to construct a permanent campus has not yet commenced.

However, a large part of the selected site for the permanent campus on the banks of the river Dakatia lies in marshy wetlands.

The planning commission has objected to the selection of such lowland by the river for the hospital.

The commission said that it would require 12 ft of sand or more for a landfill here. At the same time, work would have to be carried out to protect the river too and that would be extremely costly.

Meanwhile, local people feel that the interests of unscrupulous sand traders are involved in selecting the marshes as the medical college site.

The government took up the project to establish the Chandpur Medical College and Hospital and Nursing College in 2018.

The medical college began functioning on 10 January 2019, using the Chandpur Sadar Hospital as its temporary campus.

According to the health directorate records, the implementation cost of this project was estimated at Tk 13.7 billion.

The authorities proposed that 30 acres of land be acquired for the project at the Mahadeb Gachhtala mouza. Around 28 acres of this land is under private ownership. The remaining 2 acres is government property.

There were two factors in the area for which the land was selected, according the local speculations. One is that if this land is acquired, there will be a huge volume of sand trade. One phase of this trade will take place while land will be bought or sold before the acquisition.

According to government records, Tk 1.5 billion is the estimated cost of acquiring this land. This project also includes 22 buildings, residential and non-residential. An allocation of Tk 1.25 billion has been made for the purpose. There are questions regarding these proposed costs too.

Concerned sources say that a certain quarter is pushing the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) to approve of this project to establish the medical college and hospital before the national election schedule is announced. Planning commission sources say that preparation has been made to table this project for approval at the ECNEC meeting to be held next month.

A visit to the project area on 23 August revealed that around half of the proposed site is in the wetlands, about 12 ft below the level of the main road. Local resident Mohammad Shahjahan, who works at a brick kiln, said, “We’ve heard that a medical college and hospital will be set up at the Mahadeb Gachhtala mouza. It will take a huge volume of sand to fill this land by the river, if it is acquired.”

The family of Mizanur Rahman owns three acres of land in the project area. He says if this land is acquired, they will become landless. He feels there is scope to build the medical college on the plain land rather than acquiring this land on the banks of the river.

However, director of the health education department (planning and development) Kazi Afzalur Rahman, told Prothom Alo, land has to be developed in the case of any development project. Here too, sand will have to be dumped. And the permission of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) is required for any construction on the banks of a river.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, deputy director of BIWTA in Chandpur, Shahadat Hossain, said that no one had approached them for permission as yet.

During the visit to the area, it was learnt that land was being bought and sold albeit clandestinely. There are persons buying the land now, prospectively to sell it later to the government for triple the amount. This correspondent visited the Chandpur sub-registrar’s office on Wednesday to find out about how much land had been bought and sold in this mouza this year. No one, however, was willing to speak about the matter.

Later, from local sources, copies of land deeds were collected and this showed that a certain Liton Pathan of the area had bought land in the project area over the last three months. He is basically a sand trader. His sand trading office is exactly opposite the proposed project site. Sand has been piled up high on a huge expanse of land by the Dakatia bridge.

Liton Pathan claims he bought 10 decimals of land. He bought the land from his relatives. Speaking to him, it was learnt that he is aware of all the details in the government files about the project.

Also buying land in the area over the past three months are Nurul Islam Sheikh, Abul Kalam Gazi, Amir Hossain and many more.

A team of the planning commission paid a visit to Chandpur in June to inspect the proposed site for the medical college and hospital. They prepared a report after the visit. The report stated that a proposal had been made to acquire 30 acres of land for the Chandpur Medical College and Hospital. Of this, 14 acres were marshland that is flooded during the monsoon. Over 12 ft of sand will be required as a landfill to set up any structure on this 14 acres. River protection will also have to be carried out and this is extremely costly.

According to the planning commission, structures can be erected directly on the remaining 16 acres of land. It will be possible to implement the project on this land. This will reduce acquisition expenses and will also decrease the complications of acquiring land from the people.

Sources in the planning commission say that it is now to be seen what decision is taken by ECNEC.

Director of the health directorate Afzalur Rahman, speaking to Prothom Alo, said, “We have proposed an acquisition of 30 acres of land. If ECNEC feels that 30 acres is not required, we will decrease the amount of land to be acquired.”

He said that the amount of land acquisition will be reduced for the construction of the medical college and hospitals coming up in the future.

A study review of the project to set up a number of medical colleges and hospitals in the country reveals that there is no discipline or order in the acquisition of land for the purpose. Certain powerful groups are benefitting from these projects by buying up land in advance.

A total of 68 acres of land has been acquired for the Rajshahi Medical University project passed by ECNEC in June. And 87 acres of land is being acquired for Sylhet Medical University. A proposal has been made to acquire 50 acres of land for the proposed Khulna Medical University. Yet the Cumilla Medical College and Hospital has been established on just 15 acres of land. Chattogram Medical University is being made on 23 acres of land. And 30 acres has been proposed for the Chandpur project.

There have been manipulations in Chandpur in the past too, over land acquisition for government projects. An influential quarter has tried to make an extra Tk 3.59 billion last year from land acquisition for the Chandpur Science and Technology University. Before the acquisition, documents were drawn up for 62 acres of land, showing the cost to be 20 times more than the actual mouza rate.

Prothom Alo published an investigative report in this regard. The deputy commission who had submitted a report in this regard to the ministry, was later transferred. The land acquisition, though, was later held up.

Now questions have arisen about selecting the site for the medical college there.

Speaking to Prothom Alo about the matter, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) executive director Iftekharuzzaman said that the initiative to set up a medical college and hospital in an area like Chandpur is positive. But certain quarters are using this to expand their own wealth.

He suggested that the institution be set up where it benefits the people the most. He said that it is often heard that land deals, sand trade and such sprout up over such projects. This has become a culture. This happens time and again due to the lack of accountability.