Razing hillocks for stones

The pristine beauty of Sylhet is in its hills and greenery. Unfortunately, the Shah Arefin Tila in Bholaganj under Companiganj upazila is a typical example of how greed takes precedence over the environment. 

Stone traders are merrily razing hills and hillocks in five nearby upazilas including Sylhet Sadar, Beanibazar, Jaintiapur, Gowainghat and Gopalganj, but as per a report in this paper on January 24, it is Shah Arefin Tila that is facing the brunt of unmitigated hill cutting. Unauthorised stone traders in connivance with local authorities and influential people have already destroyed more than 130 acres of hilly lands to extract stones.

The business of hill cutting has taken a dangerous turn as dredgers have been employed to cut hills in direct contravention of a High Court (HC) ban in 2012. Hence, we are perplexed as to how the authorities are allowing this violation. Although fingers have been pointed at locally elected representatives, the charge has been denied. But the fact remains that despite the occasional drive by the upazila administration to stop such activity; these drives do not deter the syndicate from returning to the illegal activity. 

To be effective these drives against the coterie of vested interests need to be a concerted effort, one that is backed up by the political will to stop greedy traders from causing irreparable damage to the landscape and the environment. We are sorry to see that such determination to stop environmental degradation has not been forthcoming from the local administration and that allows room for parties to violate the HC directive with impunity.