173 Lawacherra trees felled

At least 173, out of 348 marked trees, beside the road in Lawacherra National Forest in Kamalganj upazila have been felled under social forestry project.

The forest department planted the trees on a two-kilometre stretch along the roadside 24 years ago under the project, locals said.

Rajkandi Range Forest Officer under Lawacherra Forest Department Abu Taher said 348 roadside trees were divided into five lots and around 173 trees of three lots have been sold for Tk 10 lakh and 61,959 under a tender floated in 2011-2012.

Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) Sylhet unit General Secretary Abdul Karim Kim said the trees like akashmoni, koroi, mahogany, kadam, chikarashi, jarul, pakiyara, gamari, lohakath, champasundori, bonak, rata and jam were cut down.

Bapa central committee member Tofazzal Sohel said, “During our visit, we saw that around 300 large trees had been felled. We demand a halt to such a callous act."

Tofazzal said this while he was talking to this reporter on Saturday.

He said they want an immediate halt to the selling of chopped-down trees of the forest and cancellation of the project in the area.

“We receive foreign funds in the name of climate change adaptation projects but we fell down trees in our natural forests,” Tofazzal said.

He alleged that some ministries, directorates, and the district administration are directly and indirectly encouraging felling of trees, killing of animals and destruction of forests.

Kamalganj Upazila Parishad Chairman Md Rafiqur Rahman said they have cut three lots, out of five, from Magurcherra to Phulbari, adding that they will start cutting the other two lots soon.

Assistant Conservator of Wildlife at the district forest department Tabibur Rahman said they were not informed about the matter even when the trees were marked. 

Divisional Forest Officer (wildlife) Mihir Kumar Doe said if a tree is marked for the social forestry project then it will be cut. However, they are trying to stop cutting of trees, he added.

Divisional Forest Officer of Sylhet Forest Division RSM Monirul Islam told this correspondent that he asked for a report about the trees from Rajkandi Range. After investigation, it was found that a large number of fruit trees were included in the remaining lots, he said, adding that they are trying to totally stop cutting of trees in the forest.