Unauthorised housing projects: Wetland to disappear around Dhaka

Anisur Rahman Khan :
A section of greedy rogue people have developed or under develop a large number of unauthorised housing projects around the capital Dhaka by filling up the wet and farmlands.
According to the Detail Area Plan (DAP) created by RAJUK, none can construct or develop any housing estate without prior approval of the RAJUK covering about 1,528 sq km from the forest Gazipur to the trade area of Narayanganj, Savar, Old Dhaka and Keraniganj.
It is threatening food security and putting the environment in great peril, which land sharks across the country are busy developing plots for housing projects by filling up multi-crop farmlands and wetland areas due to absence of action by the appropriate authority, said the green activists.
Most of the wet and farmlands on different road sides in Keraniganj, Rupganj, Savar, Gazipur, Munshiganj and Narayanganj and entire Dhaka district are occupied by the developers under various unauthorised housing projects.
Land, in a densely populated country like Bangladesh, is becoming scarce, not only because of population rise, but also due to setting up of unplanned industrial units, housing projects, and river erosion.
According to sources, the Capital Development Authority like the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) did not approve those housing projects as they were built in violation of rules.
Attracted by the flashy advertisements, many common people buy plots from those projects at high prices to make money and are unable to build houses due to lack of RAJUK approval, while some are building houses with permission from the local government (union council or municipality) despite the prohibition of RAJUK.
According to multiple sources, it is mandatory to obtain approval from the RAJUK before developing any housing project or construction of a building in DAP areas.
Getting approval from the RAJUK is not an easy matter as many conditions have to be fulfilled to get clearance for housing projects.
Recently, the RAJUK has issued a notice to stop buying and selling plots in 16 housing  
projects in Keraniganj area. RAJUK sources said that the land grabbers did not stop the selling of plot and filling activities of illegal housing projects despite taking initiatives.
Many people are in trouble after buying plots from unauthorised housing projects as no one else has jurisdiction to approve designs in RAJUK areas, the sources added.
However, letters have been sent from RAJUK to the Union Parishads and Municipalities of Savar, Gazipur and Narayanganj asking not to approve such housing projects or any building design.
“The appropriate authority must have to look after the matter seriously and bring the illegal developers under justice. If we fail to control them, the country’s wetlands will disappear one day pushing the whole nation into a dire threat to ecology as well as environmental hazards,” Abu Naser Khan, Chairman of Porisbesh Bachao Andolan told The New Nation.
RAJUK Chairman Anisur Rahman Miah told this correspondent that he will send letters to Deputy Commissioners (DCs) so that the developers cannot develop housing projects by filling up wetlands and farmlands.
“Many housing companies take consent from the land owners without buying the land. Then the lands are developed for plots and register it through the owner in favour of companies. Now Rajuk us looking after such kind of matters too and it would be controlled,” he said.
The country’s current population growth rate is 1.42 per cent, with population over 16 crore, while the share of agricultural land has decreased by 1 per cent annually, statistics show.