Staff Reporter:
Senior Secretary of the Land Ministry ASM Saleh Ahmed yesterday said that the implementation of ‘Smart Land Service’ is smoothing the services of land administration in Bangladesh, moving away from historical complexities, bureaucratic harassment, and the dominance of middleman rings.
“Land is the fundamental basis of human existence and an essential component of human life,” he said while speaking at a seminar titled ‘Role of Media in People-Friendly Land Services’ held at media centre of the Bangladesh Secretariat in the city, said a press release.
The seminar, which focused on the progress of Smart Land Services, was organized by the Automated Land Administration and Management System (ALAMS). The Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum (BSRF) collaborated on the event.
Saleh Ahmed noted that human life, economy, culture, and society have developed around land since the dawn of civilization, as people rely on it for food production, livelihood, housing, and industrialization.
He pointed out that land administration is a crucial sector for Bangladesh’s progress. “Historically, land service was synonymous with complexity, time wastage, and the unchecked influence of broker circles. Furthermore, people experience high levels of harassment at land offices, leading to numerous com-plaints,” he added.
He said a major issue remains survey-centric disputes, which account for nearly 80 percent of land-related lawsuits.
The Senior Secretary also noted that while land registration is not solely the Land Ministry’s responsibil-ity, citizens still place the burden of responsibility on the Ministry for related problems.
To mitigate office-based harassment, he said, the ministry developed a strategy to ensure services could be secured while remaining at home.
“Digital land service is being framed not merely as the adoption of technology, but as a revolutionary transformation of citizen services. This initiative is ensuring transparency and accountability within the land administration while simultaneously saving citizens’ time and effort,” he added.
Saleh Ahmed acknowledged that although the ministry has accomplished significant work, there is still much further to go.
However, the digital systems have already led to positive changes, such as in the management of sand quarries, which previously suffered from chaos, he added.
He said this area is now controlled through a single branch, and while full discipline has not been re-stored, the disorder has substantially decreased.
