A dirt track through the reserved forest at Shaplapur in Moheshkhali upazila, Cox's Bazar, is being turned into an 18-foot road, putting at risk the forest of the country's only hilly forested island. On 16 September, concrete had been laid at intervals along about 1.5 km, with houses, shops and betel-leaf plots against the hills on both sides, all occupied by people listed as encroachers in Forest Department records.

The Forest Department declared hill mouza No. 12 at Shaplapur a reserved forest in 1957 under section 20 of the Forest Act, covering 18,286 acres. More than 4,000 people live inside it in illegal homes and shops; in June the department wrote to the local MP that the road would benefit them and encourage more encroachment.

The 4.5 km road is being built by the Local Government Engineering Department with JICA funding at a cost of Tk 22.37 crore. Upazila engineer Boni Amin said the road is on the LGED list; he had heard of a court injunction but had not received the order, and said it would cut the distance to the neighbouring union from 20 km to 4.5 km.

Shaplapur beat officer Milton Chandra Sarkar said the forest law allows no structures in a reserved forest; work has continued despite the department's objection and a case has been filed. The department's letter says the forest is home to spotted and barking deer, threatened hill turtles, capped langurs and pythons, and that a road would block wildlife movement and see century-old trees cut.

Section 7 of the Forest and Tree Conservation Act 2026 bars the use of natural forest for non-forest purposes. BAPA general secretary Md Alamgir Kabir said the law allows no road inside a reserved forest and building one would open the way to more clearing.

This report is based on information from Prothom Alo's Cox's Bazar correspondent Mostafa Yousuf.

Source: Prothom Alo