Coastal forest under threat

Tengragiri reserve forest in Barguna’s Taltali upazila faces extinction due to erosion by the Bay. Furthermore, indiscriminate looting of trees threatens the forest, also known as Fatrarban forest.

The authorities concerned cannot look after the forest covering 13,634 acres of land on the beach at Sakhina forest bit in the upazila due to shortage of manpower. 

Meanwhile, tourists are losing interest in visiting Sonakata Eco-Park in the forest as the park saw no renovation since it was set up in 2010-11 and 2011-12 fiscal years.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change set up the eco-park at a cost of Tk 2.64 crore, said Md Zahid Pramanik, Sakhina forest bit officer.

There are few wild animals including deer, crocodile and monkey in the eco-park. The authorities also set up some picnic sheds there to attract tourists.

In 1977, the forest was declared as reserve forest. Around 2,000 acres of forest land and over one lakh trees disappeared as erosion by the Bay and different natural disasters like super cyclone Sidr in 2007, Aila in 2009, Mahasen in 2013,  Roanu in 2016 and Mora in 2017 caused serious damage to it.

The forest department also set up at least 15 wooden bridges on its internal walkways but most of the bridges got badly damaged due to lack of maintainance, said Md Alaluddin, a tourist from Khulna.

The authorities should take immediate steps to modify the forest with modern equipments to make it more attractive, he suggested.

A section of local forest robber and fishermen loot trees from the forest indiscriminately, said Abul Kasem, a local resident of Fakir haat area.

A local influential group also grabbed around 50 acres of forest land and due to this, the picturesque mangrove forest is losing its natural beauty, said another resident of the area.

Hundreds of tourists from home and abroad visit the reserve forest as well as the eco-part every year to enjoy its natural beauty, said locals.

The beat officer said earlier 20 guards worked there but only five forest guards work now which is insufficient.

They are repairing the wooden bridges considering the interest of the tourists.

Aminul Islam, divisional forest officer (DFO) in Patuakhali, said a local group has already grabbed about 40 acres of forest land in Lathimara area. They have already filed a case with the court to evict them.

They have informed the higher authorities about manifold problems of the forest, said the DFO.