The landslide last month -- which claimed more than 120 lives and is attributed to indiscriminate flattening of the hilly terrains in the port city -- has brought the issue of senseless onslaughts on the hills to the fore. The instant response from the environmentalists and experts was that this suicidal course of action had to be stopped and the plunderers punished in an exemplary fashion. The environment department has already served notices on some of those involved in the illegal business, but it has to make sure that none of the offenders go unpunished. A complete list of the lawbreakers is the first step towards achieving the goal.

It has been reported that only the hill demolition sites close to the roads have been identified, while those located away from them have been overlooked. One would, however, expect, that the law enforcers take the trouble of visiting all the 134 sites where hills have been razed and put the names of the culprits on their list.

It is imperative that the people who caused such colossal damage to the environment and were responsible for the deaths in landslides do not get any opportunity to evade the law. Nor should there be any scope for them to slacken the law enforcers' grip through exerting any kind of influence from any quarter. The law enforcers have to maintain absolute neutrality while dealing with an offence as grave as endangering the lives of people. The government must also see to it that the agencies concerned work in a well-coordinated manner.

Finally, the lesson to be learned from Chittagong is that the environment is still a highly neglected area. So, a strategy for dealing with environmental issues ranging from water-logging in the cities through encroachment upon wetlands to demolition of hills has to be formulated on a priority basis and implemented in a no-nonsense manner.