Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said that everyone, including the District Administration, Upazila Administration, and Fisheries Cooperative Society, will be benefited if the provision of online submission of the Jalmahal lease application is set out in the case of general application.
Therefore, the land minister directed on Wednesday to introduce a provision for online submission of Jalmahal lease application in general application category in Districts and Upazilas as like as a development project. The land minister gave the instructions while presiding over the 67th meeting of the Committee on the Government Jalmahal lease held at the conference room of the land ministry at the secretariat on Wednesday. Land Secretary Md Mustafizur Rahman PAA was present at the time.
It is to be noted that through a circular issued on November 15, 2021, the Ministry of Land had launched the facility of online facility of Jalmahal lease applications for the ministry level. Now the application for the Jalmahal lease can be filed from the land.gov.bd land service platform or directly from the jm.lams.gov.bd web portal. Apart from this, the application process for the Jalmahal lease and the details of the lease process could be known from the above web portal. Generally, government water bodies above 20 acres are approved at the ministry level.
Additional Secretary (Administration) Md. Abbas Uddin, Additional Secretary (Sairat) Muhammad Salehuddin and concerned officials of the Ministry of Land also attended the meeting. In addition, the Deputy Commissioners of the respective districts (where proposed Jalmahal are situated) and their representatives attended the meeting through video conferencing.
All the lease applications presented at today’s meeting had been submitted online. The members of the Fisheries Cooperative Society were able to steer clear of various complications of the leasing process by submitting the Jalmahal lease application online. In addition, the members of the Cooperative Society have saved a lot of money because of the reduction in travel. It is to be mentioned that, 468 fisheries cooperative societies limited from different districts applied online for leasing of Jalmahal in-development project for the period Bangla year 1429-1434. A total of 55 proposals of Rajshahi, Pabna, Natore, Joypurhat, Chapainawabganj, Rangpur, Gaibandha, Rajbari, Jhenaidah, and Kishoreganj districts and 3 other miscellaneous proposals were presented today at the meeting of the committee on leasing of government Jalmahal.
The Committee on Lease of The Government Jalmahal gave its approval for the lease, considering the report of the Deputy Commissioner and analyzing other overall aspects.
It is to be noted that the area of fishing in Beel, Haor, Baor, low-lying wetlands, and rivers is called Jalmahal (water bodies). According to one estimate, the number of water bodies in the country, big and small, is about 38,000. These leases generate a revenue of about Taka 100 crore a year. A number of Jalmahals have been kept non-leased as traditional and sightseeing places such as Ramsagar in Dinajpur, Hurasagar in Sirajganj. Notable water bodies, which are declared as the fishing sanctuaries, are Tanguar Haor in Sunamganj, Hakaluki Haor in Moulvibazar, etc.
