DoE fines Ctg dev authority Tk 10.38cr for damaging hills
The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) Tk 10.38 crore on charges of damaging environment and binding capacity of hills in a road construction project.
The fine was slapped following a hearing at DoE headquarters, said Abdullah Al Mamun, deputy director of DoE (enforcement).
CDA, a government organisation under the public works ministry, did not comply with its own plan submitted to the DoE to cut hills, said the official. They put the whole project area at risk of landslide, he said.
AKM Rafique Ahammed, director general of DoE in Chattogram, told The Daily Star that he along with a team visited the Bayezid Bostami area, where CDA was constructing a road titled “Link Road from Dhaka Trunk Road to Bayezid Bostami Road including loop road at the periphery of Asian University for Women”.
To implement the project, they cut hills indiscriminately exposing the area to landslide during the upcoming monsoon, he said.
According to the plan, “The CDA was granted to cut 2.5 lakh cubic metres of hills but they cut 10.3 lakh cubic metres, which is unprecedented,” he added.
CDA cut hills in 90 degree angle, whereas it was asked to follow a 26 degree angle at best, said the official.
Earlier in 2016, the CDA started the road construction project without any clearance from DoE. At that time, DoE fined it Tk 10 lakh, said DG Rafique Ahammed.
Later, the development agency submitted its plan to the DoE, he said.
The latest fine came as the CDA defied the plan, he added.
This correspondent tried to reach Rajib Das, project director of the road construction project. But his phone was found switched off despite multiple attempts.
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