Recovery of Seized Forest Land Remains Disappointingly Low

In response to a persistently low success rate in reclaiming encroached forest land, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has finally taken steps to amend existing laws. The proposed legal changes would authorize the forest department to directly evict illegal occupants from its land.

According to official data, the country possesses over 6.3 million acres of forest land. Of this, around 257,000 acres have been found under illegal occupation. As of August this year, only 14 percent of the grabbed land had been recovered by the department.

Notably, since the departure of the Awami League government on August 5 last year, only about 2 percent of the recovered land—approximately 5,093 acres—has been retrieved, despite the absence of political interference. Officials from the forest department argue that a major barrier to progress has been the lack of legal authority to independently initiate eviction drives.

Speaking to New Age on Wednesday, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, an adviser to the ministry, confirmed that the government intends to legally empower the forest department to carry out such operations against illegal occupiers.

As per the department’s statistics, 220,157.35 acres of forest land have been identified as illegally occupied nationwide. The highest level of encroachment has occurred in the Chattogram division, particularly in Cox’s Bazar, where 78,344.74 acres have been grabbed. Sylhet division follows with 49,395.09 acres, mostly in the Sylhet district.

Dhaka division has recorded 45,221.03 acres of grabbed land, mainly in Tangail, while Mymensingh division has seen 29,698.08 acres illegally taken over, primarily in Mymensingh district. Together, the Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Barishal divisions account for 17,497.97 acres of grabbed forest land.

Out of the total encroached 257,298.84 acres, only 37,141.49 acres have been recovered as of August, mostly from Chattogram.

Despite the assumption that a non-partisan government would accelerate forest land recovery, Deputy Chief Conservator of Forest Rakibul Hasan Mukul admitted the results have remained unsatisfactory. He attributed this largely to the department’s dependence on district deputy commissioners (DCs) for eviction enforcement, as the forest department lacks independent eviction authority.

“We need the DCs to assign magistrates for eviction drives. Often, magistrates are unavailable due to their commitments to other administrative responsibilities,” Mukul said.

The land recovery process begins with updated surveys conducted by the forest department, followed by legal proceedings—mostly under the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950 and the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act of 2023.

Environmental law expert Laskar Muqsudur Rahman noted that if no structures have been erected by the illegal occupiers, land recovery can be relatively quick. However, when infrastructure is present, the involvement of the deputy commissioner becomes essential.

Under the Government and Local Authority Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance of 1970, DCs are authorized to issue eviction notices, and in cases of non-compliance, carry out removals themselves.

Muqsudur also emphasized the urgency of reclaiming land before any reclassification occurs and recommended amending the 1970 ordinance to vest eviction powers in the forest department.

Another major challenge lies in the department’s limited capacity. Mukul pointed out a significant shortage of frontline staff. Of the 1,343 approved positions for foresters, 927 remain vacant. Similarly, 688 out of 2,528 forest guard positions are unfilled.

According to some forest officials, who requested anonymity, a decade-old requisition to expand the workforce from 10,820 to 19,000 positions under the Revenue budget remains pending and unaddressed.