Land acquisition tension grips students

In the shoal areas earmarked for land acquisition to facilitate infrastructure development for the new Mymensingh Division, continuing uncertainty and tension is making it very difficult for local students to concentrate on their studies, including their upcoming Secondary and Higher School Certificate exams.

“Education is an asset for my future, and important in helping me to achieve a decent life,” says Ferdous Ahmed Rifat, an SSC examinee from Char Anandipur, one of the affected villages. “For the last four months it's been impossible in our village not to be stressed about the land acquisition process. It's hard to concentrate on my study.”

Two other students, Kawsar and Emdad, say their families are wholly dependent on agriculture and all of their farmland is on the proposed acquisition list. Their parents live in constant fear of eviction, they said, which makes it hard for them to study. It's a situation that prevails across the area. “Where will we go and how will we survive if we are evicted from our ancestral homesteads?” asks Kawsar.

According to local teachers some 200 SSC examinees are among the approximately 5,000 primary to university level students from the affected villages carrying the burden of extra tension that has arisen from the land acquisition process. “The prevailing uncertainty is a curse for students at all levels,” says one local teacher. “Their bright futures are undoubtedly being compromised.”

For four months protests to save their farms and houses have continued, with around 20,000 families living in affected areas, most being small-scale farmers and sharecroppers.

Along with Char Anandipur, the villages of Char Gobindapur, Char Ishwardia, Char Bhawanipur, Char Durgapur, Char Jelkhana and Char Laxmir Algi, all within Mymensingh Sadar upazila, are subject to the proposed acquisition.

Locals have urged administration to reconsider the land slated for acquisition to minimise the impact on local communities, with priority being given to using the vast tracts of public land on both sides of the Brahmaputra River before acquisitioning private landholdings. If the administration implements the proposed acquisition list as it stands, locals lamented, it will be a serious disaster for both human settlements and agriculture.