Multiple disadvantages due to timely changes in hat Bazaar management policy and lack of proper implementation of conventional policies.

by- suman chowdhury biku

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Basis of Hat Bazaar Management: 

The introduction of Hat Bazaar system is based on the necessity of exchanging daily necessities for the realities of daily life of the people. It has been established since ancient times due to the need of time. Before the introduction of Zamindari Acquisition and Tenancy Act in 1950, all the hat-bazaars were established by the then zamindars.

And after the introduction of this law, the ownership of all the hat-bazaars passed to the government. The main law in this regard is Section 20 of the Zamindari Acquisition and Tenancy Act 1950 and Articles 224-222 of the Land Management Manual 1990 which deals with the management of the market. These three paragraphs of the Land Management Manual are as follows:

 

Hat bazaars have been brought under government ownership from two sources. Hat-bazaars established by zamindars on zamindar khas lands are vested in government ownership as per section 20 of the Zamindari Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950. Apart from - Markets have been owned by the government from the very beginning.

After the eviction of zamindari, for the convenience of the local people, hat-bazaar has been established on the privately owned land as per their demand with the approval of the collector. In the latter case, the landowners have handed over the land in the proposed area to the collector on the basis of registry documents.

* Hat-bazar is fully owned by the Ministry of Land, regardless of the source or location. The land used by the founder as zamindar or hat-bazar cannot be owned by the individual owner. If the hat-bazaar is expanded in the area adjacent to an established hat-bazar, then the collector on behalf of the government will acquire the land and make it a hat-bazar and the owner of such expanded hat-bazar area will not be able to collect toll or any kind of money.

* The Collector and the Upazila Assistant Commissioner shall keep a list of all the hat-bazaars in his area and record them in the Sairat Mahal Register as usual. 

Accurately describe the perimeter or perimeter of the hat-bazaar and save a map containing its quantity. It is imperative to preserve the hat-bazaar design if required by the surveyor.

During the survey, the Assistant Commissioner (Land) will provide the perimeter of the hat-bazaar and related information to the Assistant Settlement Officer for proper preparation of hat-bazaar records on the mouza map and ledger, and will keep an eye on whether the map and ledger have been compiled properly. "

Management policy changes at different times:

The hats and bazaars (establishment and acquisition) ordinance, 1959, was issued as required after the introduction of the Zamindari Acquisition and Tenancy Act. Later, in 1970, a circular was issued by the Office of the Board of Revenue, Dhaka, entitled Establishment of new hat bazars. That circular is also a repeat of section 20 of the Zamindari Acquisition and Tenancy Act in establishing a new hat-bazaar.

Then on 02/11/1988 by the Ministry of Local Government and Cooperatives the transfer of hat, bazars, feries and ponds / tanks to union parishads / pourashavas and Dhaka municipal corporation and on 13/03/1984 by the same Ministry A guideline for distribution between councils / municipalities / municipal corporations is issued. It clearly states that all matters relating to the management of the hat bazaar, except the lease, will remain with the district administration.

On the other hand, we see that in addition to the market developed on the khas land of the government, a lot of market has been developed on the land of various government agencies, especially on the land of railway and road department. On 08/10/1984, the Cabinet Division directed to immediately implement the decision to hand over all the railway markets to the concerned municipal bodies. And as always, the ownership of the land on which the market is located will remain with the Ministry of Land and construction work will have to be done for the development of the market with the permission of the Ministry of Land.

Discrepancies in the implementation of the directives: 

Although the responsibility of implementing all the directives of the government is mainly on those who work at the field level, most of the directives are seen to be limited to paper only. And a few days later, the same authority had to be reminded again. Similarly, in a letter dated 08/10/1995 issued by the Ministry of Land, such a reminder can be seen. As can be seen from the above, there was a lot of reluctance 

to implement the guidelines at the field level on the pretext of repeatedly changing the management of the hat-bazaar. Evidence of this can be found in the letters sent to the ministry from different districts asking for instructions on various issues at different times.

Internal and boundary land management of Hatbazar:

 Generally, the amount of khas land which is established around the main center inside Hatbazar is called Tohabazar and the land outside it is called Chandina VT. Floating vendors in the Toha market mainly sell their products temporarily in stock.

In addition, all shops located on privately owned land inside the market and in the extended part of the boundary are considered as part of the boundary of the market. On the other hand, all the khas lands outside the designated part of Toha Bazar are also identified as Chandina VT and provision is made to provide a one-time settlement for conducting business by constructing temporary structures on 0.0050 per cent of each land; Where no permanent infrastructure can be built.

According to the rules, tracemap has been prepared by measuring the Upazila and the concerned Union Land Office Hat area on the spot. This work is supposed to be done regularly or according to the reality, but it is not done. As a result, on the one hand, the market is expanding unplanned, illegal infrastructure is being built on the government-occupied Chandina VT, and on the other hand, the space for sale of floating goods is shrinking day by day due to illegal occupation of land in Toha market. As a result, it is seen that the sellers are forced to sit on the side roads, highways or elsewhere with their goods for sale. As a result, road accidents are happening with regular traffic jams.

The reality is that in the present context, the issue of 0.0050 per cent land acquisition is not an effective measure at all. Because according to the needs of the time, no one is interested in doing business in such a small area of ​​land. In addition, there is an obligation for the Deputy Commissioner to approve peripheral cases before the commencement of such settlement.

As the market is not being circumvented as per the real situation, the settlement activities are also almost stalled. On the other hand, local influential groups and in some cases terrorists and dishonest politicians are taking advantage of the government by showing thumbs up. They are occupying the government land and renting it to the traders for a large sum of money.

In this case, if the policy of formulating multi-storied buildings on government khas land within the market was given to the traders by formulating the policy, then the government land would be protected and more multifaceted benefits would be obtained. In this way the government would definitely get huge amount of revenue, planned and environmentally friendly market management would be created, there would be no need to sell goods sitting on the side of the road and selfish group would not get opportunity to satisfy their unethical interests.

Lease management, announcement of new hat-bazaars etc.:

 Hat bazaars as a place of business were mainly established in places with communication facilities. Hats and bazaars established earlier in our country were mostly established on the banks of rivers and canals and some at the behest of zamindars of that time. Since the road system was not well developed at that time in terms of infrastructure, the area adjacent to the river was predominant. But in the continuity of time, that is not the reality at present.

In addition to the area adjacent to the river, the market system is constantly expanding around the roads and highways. As a result, in reality, most of the former markets are now almost extinct. On the contrary, new hat bazaars are being formed in different places. Although the main responsibility of identifying these hatbazars as new hatbazars and bringing them under lease is vested in the Union and Upazila Land Offices under the district administration, there is no evidence that they are doing this work properly. That is the market

He has been included in the register, he has been holding on to them all his life. But if you take the news, you will see that many of those hats and bazaars have already been lost in reality. Meanwhile, these are still in the records of the government and these activities are being carried out day after day. Naturally, their names appear in the lease list / notification every year but the lease is not taking place.

One of the reasons for this is that according to the government policy, the average lease price of any market for the last three years should be more than the official lease price and in no way can it be leased at a lower price. As a result, almost none of these markets are interested in leasing, and inevitably the responsibility for the khas collection of these markets rests with the Union Land Offices.

However, with the sincere initiative of declaring these markets extinct and bringing the newly formed markets under lease, the government would get huge amount of revenue as government control would be established in those markets. Out of the list, at least fifteen to twenty new markets have not been formed.

Loss of Government, Profit to Third Party: 

First of all let's talk about khas collection of leased markets. According to government rules khas collection is the responsibility of union land office but it basically exists on paper. Insufficiency of manpower in offices. For this reason, despite their goodwill, they are not able to carry out the work of khas collection and are forced to be dependent on the old tenants of the market or those groups. Apart from this, area based syndicate practice has become a part of this lease culture. The leaders of the influential and political parties mentioned in the area have worked out a way to avoid calling the market at the official price fixed by negotiating among themselves before the auction. In other words, according to the agreement, none of them will drop the tender at the price fixed by the government.

And the markets do not get leased in the end because the authorities do not want to take the responsibility of leasing at low prices.

Conclusion: 

In such a situation, it is necessary for the authorities to take necessary steps for the declaration of extinction by collecting accurate information about the number of markets which are currently eligible for declaration of extinction. Accurate information on how many new announcements and lease markets have been created in an area and how much revenue can be generated from it

Collected and leased. In addition, by completing the perimeter of the existing markets through the Crush program, the government has undertaken the construction of upstairs buildings for the floating vendors in the Toha markets.

To bring to the notice of the government the need to determine the location of the place of sale. Due to lack of government control in the existing markets, planned shops are not being set up here. Environmental damage is increasing due to lack of planned drainage, drainage and sewerage system in a market and social instability 

is increasing due to domination of markets. Besides, the misery of the people is increasing as a result of increasing traffic jams, road accidents, etc. The most important thing is to formulate a timely new policy consisting of all the departments concerned and to introduce one-sided modern and timely management policy instead of the three-way management policy of the market.

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Suman Chowdhury Biku

Lyricist, Bangladesh Betar

E-mail: scbikuland@gmail.com