The Department of Archaeology continues to struggle to save one of the country's and region's most significant archaeological sites, Mahasthangarh in Bogura, due to the delay in acquiring 393 acres of land in the fort city.

Local villagers have constructed houses and other structures such as wells and drains on the land of Mahasthangarh over decades, despite these being a violation of the Antiquities Act-1968 and a 2012 High Court order.

They are also directly damaging the site and its archaeological antiques by taking bricks from the ancient structures, according to DoA officials.

Photo: Mostafa Shabuj

The officials say they have been trying to obstruct new constructions there but locals managed to build around 1,000 structures including houses at the site over the years, taking advantage of poor monitoring by the department which has a manpower shortage.

Following the High Court order, the DoA beefed up vigilance and were able to halt the construction of new buildings. But its vigilance weakened again amid the pandemic and several unfinished brick houses were completed while construction of new structures began over these months.

Only 42.78 acres of land in Mahasthangarh fort city actually belongs to the DoA. The remaining small parts of land include 22.78 acres which constitute the fort city's boundary walls, five acres which belong to the district administration, and 3.70 acres which belong to the Shah Sultan Balkhi Mazar.

Photo: Mostafa Shabuj

The majority of the land -- 319 acres -- belongs to local villagers since Partition in 1947.

Mahasthangarh was declared a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act-1904 by the then Bengal government in 1920.

Naheed Sultana, regional director of the DoA, Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions, said Mahasthangarh houses important metal, stone and earth artefacts from the pre-Maurya, Maurya, Shunga, Gupta, Pala, Sen, Mughal, and even the British, periods.

"The place contains valuable archaeological evidence from the 4th century BC to the 19th century AD -- such a chronological history of human civilisation is found nowhere else in Bangladesh," she said, adding that Mahasthangarh has been on the list of probable Unesco world heritage sites since 1999.

"Therefore, acquiring the land for preserving this archaeological evidence immediately is crucial, not only for Bangladesh but also for the rest of the world."

She said generation after generation of villagers have been using valuable ancient bricks from the site to build houses and digging deep tubewells and drains, damaging the archaeological site. "Once these artefacts are lost, we will never get it back."

In 2012, the High Court ruled that the government immediately acquire all private land within the fort city and also directed that during this acquiring period, no new construction take place.

The Antiquities Act, 1968 (amended in 1976) states new buildings, walls, demarcation marks, drains cannot be constructed and no harm be done to archaeological sites.

Over the years, at least 987 houses and other structures have been built in the fort city in violation of the antiquities act, according to the DoA.

Razia Sultana, custodian of the Mahasthangarh Archaeological Museum, told The Daily Star they filed 13 complaints with the Shibganj Police Station this year, against 26 people constructing illegal structures in the fort city, in violation of both the High Court order and the antiquities act.

Contacted recently, DoA Director General Md Hannan Mia told the Daily Star, "We sent a proposal to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs on December 29 last year on acquiring the land immediately. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is taking more time."

The 393.31 acres of land will require an estimated Tk 739.5 crore to acquire, the DG said.

VILLAGERS' CONCERNS

Morium Begum, 35, of Garh Mahasthan village, which is inside the fort city, said, "The government is neither buying our land nor allowing us to build new houses. As our family gets larger, we need new homes and infrastructure."

Another resident Dulu Sheikh said for the last seven to eight years, the villagers have not been allowed to build any new houses, tubewells, drains, set up irrigation machines, or dig a graveyard in the area.

"If we take any step to do new construction, the local archaeological department file case after case at the police station and police are stopping us from building new houses and harassing us," he said.

However, DoA officials refuted the allegation that they impede agricultural work and digging of graveyards in the area.

On visits to the site this year -- in February and November -- this correspondent found many new brick houses being constructed, violating the High Court order.

Multiple villagers -- requesting to remain anonymous -- also claimed police officials in exchange of bribes allowing people to build new houses.

Contacted, SM Baziuzzaman, officer-in-charge of Shibganj Police Station, refuted the allegation.

Mosharaf Hossain, another villager, said, "The High Court ordered the archaeology department to acquire the fort city land immediately, but seven to eight years have passed without the archaeology department or the government taking any initiative to acquire the land.

"We villagers are facing many problems to construct even a small drain for irrigation."

Manzil Murshid, president of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), which filed the writ petition for the preservation of the site leading to the HC order, told the Daily Star that the villagers went to the court this February for a status quo, so that they can build new infrastructures in the area.

"But the High Court denied them and ordered the department concerned, district administration and police to protect the site from illegal structures."

On December 29, 2019 the DoA sent an application to the secretary of the cultural affairs ministry urging all the necessary steps to acquire all 393.31 acres of land in the fort city.

The application, which The Daily Star has obtained a copy of, states that Mahasthangarh and its adjacent archeological sites are under consideration as a Unesco world heritage site and the land is not acquired soon, the government will lose control of the ancient fort city and important archeological evidence is already being occupied by local villagers.

The application also warned that tension between the villagers and the local DoA is growing and violence might break out if the land is not acquired in time.