AC-land makes a leap to serve people

Almost everyone shudders at the thought of the land office because of complex documents, corruption by the staff, and shrewd manoeuvring by the middlemen capitalising on the naivety of service seekers. Like most offices, Sitakunda's was not any better, and in some aspects, it was worse. But one man changed it all.

Now visitors at the land office first meet the assistant commissioner (land), the top official there, instead of the middlemen, and discuss their problem, and leave with a solution in the quickest possible time.

Ruhul Amin, the AC (land), took charge of the Sitakunda land office on July 13 last year and eliminated the middlemen altogether.

For Kamal Uddin, a villager, who recently visited the office for mutation of land ownership, it was a big surprise when he did not see any middleman around.

“There was only the assistant commissioner at the gate and some service takers. As soon as I went to him with my problem, he gave a solution without the necessity of spending money,” he said.

Kamal said every time he came to the land office in the past, he was compelled to get the job done through middlemen and spend Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000 for each service.

"When I came here I found nearly a hundred hustlers who controlled the land office. When people would come here for service, the middlemen would tell them that the AC (land) was not in office or he is an executive magistrate, he cannot meet everyone," he said.

"I have seen many people who paid up to Tk 40,000 to Tk 50,000 to middlemen for services that could have been done instantly."

Before Ruhul Amin took charge, service seekers would hear things like "The document has many problems", "It'll take a long time", or "Come another day". It would make people fall prey to the middlemen and pay hefty amounts for services meant to be free.

The first thing the middlemen, in connivance with the staff, used to do is make the assistant commissioner inaccessible to the public.

But the top official of the Sitakunda land office is the first person everyone meets now. Instead of sitting in the comfort of his office, Ruhul Amin set up a service booth at the gate of the office building, where he meets service seekers, listens to their problems, and asks the employees concerned to solve them quickly.

But what was the motivation for which Ruhul Amin took this measure?

An old woman, he replied.

“Within a week of taking charge, an old woman came to my room. She said she came to process a land document but the middlemen said it could not be done due to a plenty of problems. When she wanted to talk to me they said I was not in office. She did not believe them and entered my office to tell her problem. I found it to be a simple problem that could be done instantly,” he said.

“On that day, I decided to change the practice of the land office by taking a new measure.”

For people with the experience of frequenting the land office, it is an end to a nightmare. Service takers said none could enter and loiter around the land office premises now, except for the land owners.

Jane Alam of Bhatiary area, who had to rectify the record of his land, said the first thing he did was contacting a middleman who asked for Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000 for getting it done.

“But some locals informed me that the AC (land) himself sits at the gate and instantly provides service," he said.

He then visited the land office. "I told him about my problem, and my work was done within one hour.”

Ruhul Amin said, “I am trying to change the usual practice and free land offices from corruption and sufferings. Hopefully, some day, I will succeed.” A physics graduate of Jahangirnagar University, he joined the civil service in 2012 through the 30th BCS exam. He is married with a daughter.