Approval has been given to fell 15,242 trees beside regional roads in Lakshmipur, a coastal district on the Meghna. The trees have already been numbered for the auction process, and once it is complete they will be cut down.

While the government campaigns across the country for tree planting to bring relief from the intense heat, in Lakshmipur preparations are under way to "kill" trees in the name of road widening.

According to the forest department, approval has been given to fell 15,242 trees in Lakshmipur Sadar, Kamalnagar, Ramgati and Ramganj upazilas for road widening, and numbering is complete. Once the auction is over, 13,445 trees beside the Lakshmipur-Ramgati road in Sadar, Kamalnagar and Ramgati, 1,672 trees on various roads in Ramgati and 125 in Ramganj will be cut. The district environment and forest development committee approved the felling on the recommendation of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).

Local people said the forest department planted fruit, timber and medicinal trees along both sides of the Lakshmipur-Ramgati road in 2005. The shade keeps the road cool, and the trees also help keep the environment in balance. In about 19 years they have matured, their branches spreading to create a green setting. Thousands of vehicles use the road every day.

About five years ago, trees including century-old ones were cut along both sides of the Raipur-Lakshmipur-Noakhali regional highway in the name of development. In 2020, about 5,000 trees beside the Lakshmipur-Bhola-Barishal national road (the Majuchowdhury Hat road) were cut in the same way. Neither road now has any large trees. The forest department recently planted some trees along part of the Majuchowdhury Hat road, but none have yet been planted on the Lakshmipur district section of the Raipur-Lakshmipur-Noakhali road. Pedestrians and passengers on these roads must endure the fierce heat. The forest department also complains that the RHD will not allow it to plant beside the roads.

Under a project to upgrade the roads linking the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar economic zone with Lakshmipur, Noakhali and Feni districts, the Lakshmipur-Char Alexander-Sonapur-Maijdee road under the Lakshmipur roads division will be widened from 5.50 metres to 7.30 metres. The 54-km Lakshmipur section (the Lakshmipur-Ramgati road) is lined with trees planted by the forest department. The Lakshmipur RHD wrote to the forest department last November to have them cut. The number of trees the department planted on this road around 2005 is 13,445.

In 2012 and 2021, the forest department planted trees along both sides of the Nuria Hajirhat-Nuru Patwari road in Ramgati, from Keramatia Bazar to Bhulua Bridge and east via Chourasta to Jori More. The LGED wrote to the forest department last December to have 1,672 of these trees cut.

In Ramganj upazila, the forest department has 187 trees along 13 km of road from Panpara Bazar to Lamchar High School and from Azimpur to Karpara. The LGED says 125 of them obstruct the road's development and wrote to the forest department last September to have them cut.

School teacher Sana Ullah Sanu said natural disasters are constant in Lakshmipur because of climate change, and more trees need to be planted to cope. But cutting roadside trees in the name of development is making the heat worse, and the risk of storms and tidal surges is rising along with it.

Ismail Hossain Babu, founder of the environmental organisation Sabuj Bangladesh, said the plan to freely fell trees large and small in the name of development worried them. Planting must be ensured alongside felling.

Mizanur Rahman, a professor in the botany department of Lakshmipur Government College, said that instead of the 25 per cent forest cover needed nationally, the country has 16 per cent, and trees are still being cut on various pretexts. Two trees are supposed to be planted for each one cut, but this is not being done. Without trees, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will rise, and eventually the lack of oxygen will harm the atmosphere. To prevent this, tree felling must be reduced.

Firoz Alam Chowdhury, assistant conservator of forests in Lakshmipur, said the trees would be cut on the decision of the RHD; the forest department does not decide directly. There is no alternative to planting trees for relief from the heat, and new trees are planted wherever trees are cut, but the RHD does not allow replanting beside the road after felling.

Jahirul Islam, executive engineer of the Roads and Highways Department in Lakshmipur, said the felling had been recommended for road expansion. Roads are damaged because the trees keep sunlight off them. Fruit trees will be planted on both sides once the roadwork is finished. The forest department is not being allowed to plant because of new instructions from the ministry.

Deputy Commissioner Suraiya Jahan, president of the district environment and forest development committee, said she was not aware of the felling process at the moment. Wider roads bring development to an area, and trees are planted after road development. There are plans to plant large numbers of trees beside the district's internal roads in the monsoon. The disagreement between the forest department and the RHD over planting will be resolved at the monthly coordination meeting.

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