A significant area of river bank of Rajshahi has eroded. As a result, the mainstream people also the indigenous people lost land. Eventually, the mainstream people were found to grab the land of some indigenous communities especially Santals, an ancient tribal group, which is also a powerless minority group in Rajshahi.
The contribution of ESDO to help the indigenous people regain their lands right:
- ESDO has conducted several meetings with the leaders of indigenous communities to perceive their problems. These meeting aimed at protecting their land rights
- There were also some awareness programs conducted among all of the people living there in Rajshahi
- ESDO has done several policy dialogues with the village leaders who are also Bangladesh parliament members in order to pressurize them so that they can pay attention to this issue
- The village leaders responded positively and now are cooperating with ESDO
- A few communities were given their lands back. However, it is an issue of many decades. So, it will take time to entirely solve the land related problems of the indigenous people there.
