Sources said the one-acre plots were allocated at unusually lower price and violating rules and regulations for this 'ecologically critical' area.

On May 20, 1999, the then government declared 10,465 hectares of land in Cox's Bazar and adjacent areas as 'ecologically critical area' to preserve the bio-diversity and prohibited erecting structures, felling trees and capturing animals in the area.

Influential lawmakers and cabinet members of the alliance government went on a frenzy of obtaining plots in the restricted area taking advantage of the "exclusive tourism zone." The zone was established in 1985 during the regime of HM Ershad on a 100-acre area of the beach and it was divided into 100 plots. No plot however was allotted during Ershad's term.

Ignoring the ecological critical area, the alliance loyalists obtained each plot for a mere Tk 34 lakh for setting up tourism facilities such as hotels or motels. But instead, most of the plot owners sold out the plots and made Tk 2 to 3 crore from each plot.

A few plot owners built large permanent structures in the middle of the beach while others even put up large billboards advertising for housing companies on the plots.

The present interim government last month seized all documents of these hotels and motels in the controversial zone. A source in the joint forces said the forces seized these documents from the office of the Cox's Bazar deputy commissioner amid allegations that plots in the exclusive tourism zone went in wrong hands and those were not being used for tourism purposes.

Cox's Bazar district administration sources said the immediate-past BNP-led alliance government allotted 90 plots to its ministers, state ministers, deputy minister and lawmakers between the period of 2002 and 2006. None but one of them had constructed any hotel or motel.

The Awami League government (1996-2001) during its term also allotted 10 plots to ten businessmen. Out of the 10, six hotels were constructed in the zone at that time that includes the Seagull, added the sources in the district administration office.

Besides violating government restrictions on the ecologically critical area on the beach, proper allotment process for plot allocation in the exclusive tourism zone was also ignored during the four-party alliance government, the sources said.

Although genuine businesses with experience in tourism and hotel industry are supposed to be eligible for plots in the exclusive zone, most of the plot recipients did not fit in the criteria, officials said.

The plot recipients during 2002-2006 period are former ministers Shamsul Islam, Mirza Abbas and Morshed Khan, state ministers Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin and Salahuddin Ahmed, deputy minister Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu, former lawmakers Sayeed Iskandar and Ali Asgar Lobi, former leader of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Habibunnabi Sohel, three former lawmakers from Cox's Bazar Shahjahan Chowdhury, Alamgir Mohammad Mahfuz Ullah Farid and Mohammad Shahiduzzaman, Cox's Bazar BNP leaders ATM Nurul Bashar Chowdhury, Lutfor Rahman Kajal, Enamul Haque and Azizul Haque, and professor Yusuf Abdullah of Dhaka University.

Moreover, a few of the recipients even obtained more than one plot. Salahuddin Ahmed alone obtained 16 plots. He however transferred the ownership of 12 plots to others and kept four under the possession of his family. Shamsul Islam and Morshed Khan obtained four plots each. Former deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar Matiar Rahman and former deputy commissioner (revenue) Fasiullah also received multiple plots.

The lone recipient who constructed a hotel and a community centre on his plot is Lutfor Rahman Kajal.