Inside the nearly century-old Harbang reserved forest in Chakaria, Cox's Bazar, a 6 to 8 foot footpath long used by local people is being turned into a paved road almost 5 km long, and hills and hillocks are being cut to make way for it. The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) project, costing about Tk 25.03 crore, is funded by the Bangladesh government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
On the ground, a hillock at the start of the path has been cut level with the road and another hill shows cutting at North Karmuhuripara. Beyond the Sabanghata bridge, hills 5 to 9 feet high have been cut back along about 600 feet to widen the road, the cuts 10 to 12 feet wide. Some trees have also been felled.
According to the Forest Department, about 4 km of the road falls inside gazetted reserved forest used by wild elephants, beside garjan trees and some 50 acres of SUFAL plantation. The department says its permission was never sought. It noticed the hill cutting on 17 September, and on 22 September Chunati range officer Md Abir Hasan wrote to the LGED asking it to stop work inside the reserved forest, but work reportedly continued.
The road is part of the LGED's South Chattogram Regional Development Project. Project director Md Amirul Islam said the feasibility study was done in 2020, that the road running into reserved forest "may have been a mistake" that would not be repeated, and that work had been told to stop after the forest department's letter. Signs of hill cutting and construction suggest it has not fully stopped, raising the question of why the feasibility study did not identify the forest land.
Environmental experts say a paved, wider road will make it easier for people and vehicles to enter the forest, raising the risk of timber theft, hunting and encroachment, and more traffic will disrupt the movement of wild elephants and push them into villages. Mohammad Sohel Rana, divisional forest officer of the Chattogram South Forest Division, said a paved road would increase encroachment, endanger wildlife habitat and obstruct elephant movement.
The report is by Desh Rupantor's Chakaria (Cox's Bazar) correspondent Md Kamal Uddin.
Photo: AKM Emdadul Islam Bitu / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Desh Rupantor
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