Trees in a planted forest on railway and government land at Faujdarhat in Sitakunda, Chattogram, are being cut in the open. Ajker Patrika found that more than a hundred trees, some 40 to 50 years old, have been felled over about 20 days, cut into pieces and taken away in seven trucks. Locals allege a group is cutting trees and hillocks to level the land for a container depot.
The site, known as Jangal Bhatiari, lies about half a kilometre from the Sitakunda highway, north-east of Faujdarhat Jalil railway station and south of the Port Link-2 container depot. Reporters saw a wide area cleared, seven or eight workers cutting up trunks and branches, and signs of hillocks levelled.
Before the felling began, the group allegedly used the railway's name to threaten landless families living in the planted area with eviction. The railway had earlier tried to lease the land to a local firm; in September an eviction of the landless was halted after local resistance. Residents say more than 300 families have lived on railway land next to Joramtal KYCR for over three decades. The tree cutting began after that.
Rahman Monir, one of those cutting the trees, said they belong to the railway and the government's plantation and that a man who had bought them from the railway by tender had hired them, but he would not say who.
Md Sajjat Hossain, the forest officer in charge of the Faujdarhat checkpost, said he visited a week ago and saw piles of felled trees; the land and the trees are the railway's, but he could not confirm whether they had been sold through a proper tender. No action has followed his visit.
Md Khorshed Alam Chowdhury, the railway's divisional estate officer in Chattogram, said he had no information about tree felling there and that no tender had been issued. He asked for photos and video, which were sent to him on WhatsApp, after which he stopped responding, Ajker Patrika said.
Photo: Forest at Sitakunda Botanical Garden and Eco Park, Sultan Sunnny / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Ajker Patrika
Comments
(0)