Online land tax pilot program launched

Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said land rent – land development tax – can be paid from anywhere in the world using the online Land Development Tax Management System.

Almost 3.6 crore people in the country involved in paying land tax will directly benefit from this service. Land-related harassment of people will be reduced and corruption in the land office will stop.

The land minister made the comments while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of the Online-based Land Development Tax Management Software Piloting (Phase I) Program in the conference room of the land ministry on Wednesday.

The minister said he is very optimistic about establishing the land development tax online, nationwide, by July 2021.

In the first phase, 19 mouzas (small administrative districts) under nine municipal and union land offices, under nine upazilas of six districts, have been selected to pilot three case-related softwares including land development tax management software, read a press release.

Of these, 13 mouzas under five Municipal Land Offices are: Mirpur, Gudararchar, Noagaon, Rudragaon, Bhatirgaon, Charhogla, Mobarakdi and 176 No Dhakirgaon mouzas under Faridganj and South Matlab upazila of Chandpur district; Bangram Chowk and Gangadhar Patti mouzas of Manikganj Sadar; the Karmuli and Maria mouzas of Kishoreganj Sadar; and the Satpakia mouzas of Jamalpur Sadar.

The other six mouzas under four Union Land Offices are: Tungipara mouza of Patgati union under Tungipara upazila of Gopalganj district, Mazidpur and Anandpur mouzas of Bagdhania union under Savar upazila of Dhaka, Haildhar and Malgharja mouzas of Khaskhama union of Anwara upazila of Chattogram, and "Deobhog 'Mo' block" mouza of Sadar union of Narayanganj district.

At the programme, the land minister said, "In the last 10 years, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has made a radical change in land management. The Ministry of Land won the prestigious United Nations Public Service Award 2020 as a result of her visionary initiative to build Digital Bangladesh."

"The land development tax collection system has been digitised – following the prevailing rules and regulations – in order to provide harassment-free services to a large number of land service recipients, at low cost and in a short time, as part of Digital Bangladesh," Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said.

Responding to a question on the mouza rate, the land minister said, "The matter is mainly under the jurisdiction of the law ministry. We will raise the issue at the inter-ministerial meeting."

Special guest of the inaugural program Land Secretary Md Muksodur Rahman Patwary said the training and preparation of the officers and employees working in the selected land office has already been completed to conduct the piloting activities of land revenue collection digitally.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Land and Land Reform Board were also present at the inaugural program presided over by Land Reforms Board Chairman Md Yaqub Ali Patwari.

Additionally, several officials working at the field level, including the deputy commissioners concerned, participated in the inaugural function through video conferencing.

The Ministry of Land on Wednesday issued a circular validating the receipt obtained electronically using land development tax management software.