In a dispute over the sale of land in Chapainawabganj, rivals have uprooted paddy seedlings on three and a half bighas. The newly transplanted seedlings were pulled up on 5 July in the Chhoto Marapagla field of Sundarpur union in Sadar upazila.

Seeking justice, the affected farmer, Md Aminul Islam (40), son of Rahman of Bagchar village in Sundarpur union, has filed a written complaint with Sadar Model police station. He claims a loss of about Tk 70,000.

Aminul Islam said that with money saved from several years abroad, he paid an advance of Tk 1 lakh to buy a piece of farmland in the Chhoto Marapagla area. The three children of Md Jafar of the Tikrampur area — Md Badsha (50), Moidul Islam (45) and Mst Sonabhan (35) — set the price of the three and a half bighas at Tk 10.5 lakh and promised to register the land within three months of taking the advance. "But instead of registering it to me, they cheated me and handed the deed to Md Kalam, son of Ahmed Ali of Chhoto Marapagla village."

He said that although the land he had paid an advance on was in his possession, they registered it to Kalam. At a local arbitration it was later decided that a total of Tk 9 lakh would be returned: Tk 1 lakh then and the remaining Tk 8 lakh after three months. In exchange, he was allowed to grow paddy on the land. "I then planted paddy seedlings, but Kalam and his people uprooted them."

"They told me to plant paddy, and then after I planted it, they uprooted the seedlings to take the land by force. This is an injustice against me," he said. "When I tried to stop them, they intimidated and threatened me in various ways. I fled to save my life."

Rahmat Ali, a farmer with a neighbouring plot, said some people suddenly came and started pulling up the seedlings. "I told them not to, but they did not listen."

Abul Kalam denied the allegation and declined to speak further on the matter.

Sajjad Hossain, officer in charge (OC) of Chapainawabganj Sadar Model police station, said a written complaint had been received and action would be taken after investigation.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.