A papaya farmer in Rangamati has been the victim of a cruel attack under cover of darkness. About 800 papaya trees were destroyed by miscreants with blades at Noadam Brahmantila in Rangapani, in ward 6 of the town's municipal area, on the night of Thursday, 30 July.

People involved with the orchard said trees carrying papayas worth several lakh taka, ready for market, were destroyed in a single night.

On a visit to Rangapani on the morning of Friday, 31 July, rows of felled papaya trees could be seen lying across a wide stretch of the orchard. Nearly every tree was still hung with green and half-ripe papayas.

The landowner, Ahmad Fazlur Rashid Selim, said: "A man named Khalil leased about one acre of land from me and grew papayas there. He planted about 1,800 papaya trees. Of these, the miscreants picked out and cut down the 800 trees that were bearing the most fruit."

Expressing his sorrow, he said: "I cannot understand who did this shameful thing in the dark of night. Cutting down trees in fruit like this is very painful and cruel for a farmer."

The orchard's caretaker, Md Zahid, said: "I went to sleep after dinner. When I woke in the morning and went to the orchard, I saw a huge number of trees had been cut down. The papayas on the trees that were cut were due to be sold in the market within the next month."

The leaseholder and papaya farmer, Md Khalil, is currently outside Rangamati. The landowner said legal action would be taken once he returns, and no complaint has yet been filed with the police.

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