Land taxes, fees payment go online to bid adieu corruption

To end corruption under various heads and minimise citizens’ harassment by land ministry employees and staff, the government is introducing an integrated digital land tax payment system across the country.

Acknowledging the fact that as the clients visit land offices to pay for the services they want, there arises chances of bribery, the Ministry of Land said there will be no ‘over-the-counter’ system in any land office for money transactions.

The proposal is now waiting for Bangladesh Bank approval as all the fees to be paid via mobile banking and physical banking methods will instantly be deposited into Bangladesh Bank. 

“We are waiting for Bangladesh Bank’s consent and guidelines to learn how to operate the system under the programme,” said an official of the Land ministry.

Some of the technical glitches may also be causing delays in inaugurating the system, he said.

The Land ministry signed a number of Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) with online payment gateway providers, Upay, Nagad and Bkash and Banking Services Provider United Commercial Bank (UCB), respectively to this end, Land Secretary Md Mustafizur Rhaman PAA said.

The Land Reform Board under the Ministry of Land is implementing the programme.

A good number of citizens have complained about corruption taking place while making cash transactions in various land offices, across the country.

A client will register his or her name in the tax system and registrations can be done with any Union Digital Center by using the client’s NID card or by ringing the call center number 333 or 16122. The dispatcher would ask the client his or her NID details and may want to know any specific land related information.

The Land ministry will send the client the amount of money he or she should pay for a particular service by SMS. After receiving the SMS the client will pay the amount through mobile financial services and internet banking.

The citizens will be able to pay land tax, land mutation fee, land development tax and other payable fees through the online payment scheme, according to a Land ministry document.

Land secretary Md Mustafizur Rahman told Business Insider Bangladesh that about 5 crore families would benefit from the new payment system under this program. The system will go into operation as soon as BB approves it, he said.

Earlier, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said the purpose of setting up an online system to pay all the fees including land development tax, mutation fee, Records of Right (Khaitan) is to bring land services to the doorsteps of the constituents.

“The less human-to-human contact will happen, the less corruption there will be,” he said.

He expressed his determination to work towards establishing an efficient, transparent, and people-oriented land management.

According to TIB’s National Household Survey on Corruption 2012, some 59 percent households experienced corruption while receiving services and the nationally estimated total amount of bribe given by Bangladeshi households was found to be Tk 22,610 million.

The Bangladesh chapter of international corruption watchdog Transparency International has detected massive corruption at every stage of land management by the administration.

Land officials and staff at the offices take bribes ranging from Tk 100 to Tk 20 lakh for survey and ledger transfer, mutation of name, registration, land development tax, collecting documents, provision of agro-land management, market management and leasing system, and land-related cases, TIB said.

The officials concerned prepare documents of Khas (government) land, vested property, fallow land and court of wards in favour of the influential persons in exchange for bribes, according to the findings of the TIB study.