BANGLADESH: Around 30 lower caste families in the Hindu community face eviction in Chittagong

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the eviction risk faced by around 300 people of a lower caste Hindu community in Chittagong, without adequate compensation or rehabilitation being arranged. The land will be seized for the government-led Patiya Bypass project, yet the community is very poor and residents have not been given the education or training necessary to know how to move or make a living elsewhere. Compensation has been offered, but it is inadequate and has not been offered in writing. To avoid creating a larger group of internally displaced people in Bangladesh the government must make a clear framework for such relocations, taking the rehabilitation of the tenants into account. This community is in need of particularly urgent protection. 

CASE DETAILS: 

On 15 September 2009 the District Administration of Chittagong served a notice (PDF) to the residents of Nathpara, Karol village, asking that they claim official ownership before 14 October 2009. The residents did not respond and several evictions attempts have followed, by the Patiya police and assisted by the Chittagong and Patiya Upazilla representatives. All were met with protests (see the video below and here). 

The 300 residents claim a strong ancestral and craft history. Its members have been making a living by weaving domestic house-mats from nearby aquatic plants for generations, and say that if they move they will also lose their livelihoods (see video footage of the village here). They allege that an adequate rehabilitation policy has not been offered, but rather a lump sum of 50,000 takas, which will not cover the costs of purchasing land in the area. The authorities have reportedly not offered documents promising this compensation, which they must do by law. 

The Nathpara inhabitants believe that they are being targeted and exploited because they are a low caste minority group. Like many such groups in Bangladesh, this one has been marginalised; the majority of its members survive on less than US$.0.5 per day, receive no social security benefits from the government and have very limited access to education, health and sanitation facilities. The new development will improve infrastructure in the area, but will only disadvantage this group. There is a strong chance that they will become internally displaced, unable to support themselves or to find affordable plots of land. Many residents are also unable to produce the necessary ownership papers, though the land has been inhabited by their families for more than a century. 

Two community leaders, Mr. Srimat Subashananda Abdhuth and Mr. Dilip De, have alleged that the community is being targeted. The original bypass plan (1991-1996) passed straight from Patiya Indra Pol Bridge to Kocuayi Girish Chowdhury Market over agricultural land, and a revised plan curves to travel across their homestead, depriving them of their right to housing and security. They claim that they have not received any response to the formal letters they have sent to the country director of the Asian Development Bank, which is funding the project, or from the team leader of Roughton International, which is an implementing partner. 

In recent weeks a group of community representatives have met and received verbal assurances from the incumbent minister and secretary of the Communications Ministry. However the local administration, with police, continues to visit the village regularly to urge residents to leave. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

Plans for the Patiya Bypass have been underway since the nineties, managed by the Roads and Highways department under the Ministry of Communications; it will connect Chittagong with Cox’s Bazar, which is another costal town at the southeast corner of the country. The project is officially called RNIMP-2 and the plan has been revised under the new government. 

There is a large gap between the published market price and the actual price of land plots in the area – as in the rest of the country. Property developers are consistently accused of under-pricing land to reduce tax payments. Therefore calculated compensation amounts, while enough on paper, are rarely enough to secure a family a new plot, or materials to build their home. According to the governmental records the official price of an acre of land in this area is around 100,000 Takas, yet they are allegedly being sold for around 10 million Takas. 

SUGGESTED ACTION: 

Please write letters to the concerned authorities requesting their review of the Patiya Bypass construction plan, and should it go ahead, requesting their arrangement of a rehabilitation and compensation package for the current residents. Please also demand that the government creates a clear framework for such future procedures. 

The AHRC has also written letters to the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing and Independent Expert on Minority Issues urging their intervention into this case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER