Railway lands in the hands of grabbers

Bangladesh Railway (BR) is heavily subsidised as it is, and to make it even worse for its wobbling revenue generation process, the rail's huge swathes of land, measuring more than 4,000 acres, have been grabbed by individuals, government and private organisations. The railway land under the illegal occupation of government and other state-owned organisatons is a whopping 922.34 acres. The Railway Minister has recently told the parliament that in the last 10 months only 132 acres of such land has been retrieved. 

It is indeed shocking that railway land has been allowed to be commandeered while it is bled dry of a part of its earning. The rule stipulates that a government entity has to apply to the BR authorities, which allows the transfer of property only after receiving a recommendation from the railway office stating that the land would not be used by it in the future. This procedure, as we can see, has often been flouted, and a coterie of BR officials, in connivance with the land grabbers, has been behind the mismanagement and the loss of railway land. Also, the local administration sometimes, reportedly, lease out BR land without prior approval of the latter. 

The crux of the problem lies in corruption and lack of proper supervision. The rail authority should take immediate steps to retrieve its lands that have been grabbed or encroached upon. The list of such properties and the names of offending individuals and institutions should be made public. Also, a probe into the irregularities that have led to the loss of its properties is in order.