Ethnic Community Development Organisation (ECDO) hosted a workshop, on ‘Rights on land and forest of indigenous people’, at a Sylhet city hotel on 14th November 2010.
In this workshop the government has been urged to implement Section 97 of Land Act, 1950 to ensure security of land owned by indigenous communities. According to the speakers, indigenous people in the plains face problems such as encroachment, eviction from khas land, harassment by criminals and fake land records, among others. “There is a spiritual relationship between indigenous people and their land but the people are being evicted from their land by various means,” they said.
ECDO executive director Mr. Laksmikanta Singh urged to the government through his well come speech to take necessary steps for ensuring indigenous peoples land rights in the country.
Chairing the inaugural session, Faruk Mahmud Chowdhury, administrator of  The Sylhet Chamber of Commerce & industry Limited & the President of Subidhabanchito Nagorik Adhikar Forum, said ensuring equal rights for all citizens is the government’s responsibility. Further he stressed the need to ensure the rights of indigenous people on plain land.
Sylhet District Bar Association president Emad Ullah Shahidul Islam said only proper implementation of Section 97 of Land Act, 1950 can ensure land owned by indigenous people is not snatched away from them. More he added there are more than 45 ethnic communities who would be added under the current Act.
Among others, journalist Aziz Ahmed Salim, Al Azad, Iqbal Siddique, Sangram Singha, Uzzal Mehdi, Abdul Alim Shah and Mintu Deshowara spoke at the workshop.

Program related media link;
http://www.theindependentbd.com/paper-edition/metropolitan/others/19535-apply-act-to-save-land-of-adivasis.html

http://www.sobujsylhet.com/S_I%20Rokib