Land grabbing punishable criminal offence: Minister

Land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said law is being upgraded to make the grabbing of public lands a punishable criminal offence, reports UNB.

He made the remarks while inaugurating the second phase of the online land development tax management software pilot programme at the ministry's conference room on Monday.

In the second phase, one or more mouzas (small administrative districts) of 482 municipal and union land offices of 61 districts except for the Chittagong Hill Tracts will be brought under the land development tax management software.

The Land Reforms Board under the land ministry is implementing the programme.

"To ensure that the development in the land sector has a firm footing, we are working on its sustainability and capacity building," the minister said.

"Also, we are trying to make sure that people can receive most of the services without coming to the land office."