Housing minister calls for law to protect shrinking arable land in Bangladesh

The housing minister has described the building of houses on arabe land as ‘a crime’ and pressed for making a new law to protect the shrinking farmland.

Mosharraf Hossain made the suggestion on Tuesday at a programme at the Secretariat where recommendations were forwarded for developing planned villages and towns and housing for proction of farmland to ensure food security.

Planned housing is the way forward in the context of the population boom, the housing and public works minister said.

Exptariates are building houses on paddy-growing land on their return. “I’d say this is a crime. I’ve told the food minister and the prime minister about it. A law has to be enacted in Parliament to save the arable land, paddy-growing land.”

Mosharraf called for a legal provision requiring permission from the UNO or relevant official for building houses on farmlands.

He warned that the food autarky achieved will be elusive if the crop-growing lands keep getting destroyed in this fashion. No brick klins should be allowed on arable land.

The minister advised the National Housing Authority to focus on developing eco-friendly villages following China’s lead.