Hill cutting continues in Bandarban

Indiscriminate hill cutting is going unabated in Bandarban district, raising risk of landslides in the monsoon.

Despite a government ban on cutting hills, Homeland Planters, a rubber plantation owner in Bandarban's Lama upazila, have already cut six hills in the name of road construction for their project.

"Few hills have been cut to make a road for our project," said Md Saiful, caretaker of Homeland Planters.

According to Saiful, present owner of Homeland Planters Tariq Ahmed's father Abdul Malek took a lease of 25 acres of land from local administration for rubber plantation in the area long ago.

A signboard has been placed in the project area bearing Tariq's name as owner of the project.

Homeland Planters, a rubber plantation owner in Bandarban’s Lama upazila, razed down several hills to construct roads for the project. Photo: Collected

"Tariq, who lives in USA now, called me yesterday and said they cut the hills taking permission from the authority to make a road in his rubber garden area, but he failed to show any document in this regard till now," Md Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Lama Police Station, told The Daily Star.

"We have already stopped their hill cutting activities," the OC claimed.  

However, local sources alleged that hill cutting has continued, evading the eyes of the law enforcers.

"We have been informed that a company cut few hills in Lama. We are going to take stern action against the company this week," said Samiul Alam Qursy, chief of the Department of Environment in Bandarban district.

Hill cutting is largely considered the reason for landslides in hill tracts region.

Hill cutting is largely considered a reason behind landslides in hill tracts region. Photo: Collected

More than 150 people were killed in massive landslides that occurred in the hilly districts -- Rangamati, Chattogram, Bandarban, Khagrachhari, and Cox's Bazar -- in 2017.

The Bangladesh Environment Preservation Act 1995, as amended in 2000, prohibits cutting of hills without the approval of concerned authorities.

The penalty for cutting hills without approval is up to two years imprisonment, a fine of Tk 2 lakh or both for a first offence. For a subsequent offence the penalty is up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of Tk 10 lakh or both.

"The criminals have managed to cut hills, destroying the region's biodiversity and increasing risk of landslides, and are still getting away with it as the local administration, the DoE and law enforcement agencies are not sincere in preventing hill-cutting in CHT region," said Zumlian Amlai, chairperson of the Bandarban chapter of Pabatya Chattogram Forest and Land Rights Protection, an environmental organisation.