For years, rain trees planted by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) have shaded the Panchhari regional road in the hill district of Khagrachhari. Recently the trees have been killed by stripping their bark, and the Khagrachhari-Panchhari regional road is gradually being left bare of trees.

Vandals recently stripped the bark from eight trees in the Chhotonala area of the road. With the bark of these 20-40-year-old trees removed, the process of taking up nutrients from the soil stops, and the trees have gradually begun to die.

Local people allege that for several years a gang has been cleverly killing the trees on both sides of the road. Once the trees die, they are cut down and carried off. Such incidents have happened before, but RHD has not been able to take punitive action against those responsible.

Md Tauhidul Bari, sub-divisional engineer of RHD, has filed a general diary (GD) over the destruction of the trees, which belong to the department.

Environmentalists have expressed anger. Mahfuz Rasel, founder of the Pitachhara Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Initiative, said old roadside trees in Khagrachhari have been killed by various methods and carried away year after year. "This wrongdoing cannot go on under the nose of the roads department. So it should be investigated whether anyone in the roads department is involved."

Md Farid Mia, divisional forest officer of Khagrachhari, said stripping the bark of a tree is called "girdling". A tree takes food from the soil through its roots via the cambium layer. If the bark is removed, the cambium layer cannot function, the branches eventually begin to dry and the tree dies.

He said RHD had not contacted the forest department about the matter, adding that if they contact the department, it will give every kind of help.

Maksudur Rahman, executive engineer of the Khagrachhari roads division, said several of the department's trees had been killed by bark-stripping before. "We filed a GD at that time, but we do not know what action the law enforcement agencies took. We got no remedy."

He added that the bark of eight more trees has now been stripped in the Chhotonala area. "This will not be tolerated. I have instructed the sub-divisional engineer to take legal action."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.