Illegal earth cutting puts flood control dyke under threat

Two ruling party men cut earth illegally from the Shibbaria river with excavators, leaving the flood control dyke and a number of riverside croplands and dwelling houses in Kalapara upazila under threat of erosion. 

Md Jamal Hossain, vice president of Mohipur upazila unit of Sramik League, and Md Eusuf Farajee, former vice president of Mohipur upazila unit of Awami League (AL), continued cutting earth from the river for the last two weeks but no one dared to protest the illegal activities of the duo as they are locally very much influential, alleged locals.

On information, Kalapara Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Munibur Rahman on Saturday rushed to the spot and prevented the labourers from illegal earth cutting and asked the local union parishad (UP) chairman to monitor the situation by deploying two village policemen. 

After cutting the earth, it was kept piled beside the river and later taken away from there on trucks, said villagers.

Jamal sold the extracted earth to a sawmill owner in Kuakata area, they said.

The Shibbaria is very important river as two big fish landing stations at Mohipur and Alipur lie there, said Latachaplee UP Chairman Ansar Uddin Mollah, adding that sea-bound fishing trawlers take shelter in the river.

The mindless soil lifting has made the riverbank vulnerable to collapse, he said.

He tried several times to prevent the duo from illegal earth cutting but failed, said the chairman, adding that he informed the UNO about the matter later.

Contacted, the Sramik League leader said a sawmill owner asked him to fill up his low land with earth and for this, he lifted soil from the river.

It is not harmful to the river, he said.

Meanwhile, despite repeated calls, this correspondent could not reach the AL leader for his comment on the issue as he did not receive the phone. 

The UNO said action will be taken against those responsible for the illegal earth cutting.