Govt body razes 24,796sqft hill without approval

Bangladesh Forestry Industry Development Corporation (BFIDC), a government organisation under ministry of forest, environment and climate change, has razed 1.5- kilometre stretch of hills to make access for a proposed rubber plantation at Raozan upazila of Chattogram.

They cut the hills at Kodolpur union of the upazila without prior permission of the Department of Environment (DoE).

There used to be hills along 1.5km stretch of the 1.8km road, members of a DoE inspection team told The Daily Star recently. The team led by Zamir Uddin, deputy director of Chattogram (district) DoE and Afzarul Islam, its assistant director, visited the spot on Saturday and served a notice on the authorities concerned for cutting hills without its permission.

"The road used to be a foot trail, bordered by many small and large hills," Zamir Uddin told this correspondent. They razed the hills to turn the trail into a road to get access to the rubber plantation.

He continued, "The razed amount is no less than 24,796 square feet. They did not take any approval for it. We served them a notice. Necessary steps will be taken after a hearing."

Contacted, Md Mokchedur Rahman, general manager of BFIDC (Chattogram), said they did not know that they needed permission from DoE.

"It was an old road. We were just reconstructing for easy access to the proposed 100-acre rubber plantation," he said. As the forest department leased out the land, they thought they did not need any permission from DoE, he added.

"It was a misunderstanding. We will apply for permission as soon as possible," he said. Asked if there was any other alternatives to cutting hills, he said they do not have any other option.