Stone collectors feast on hillocks
Named after a sufi saint, a hillock in Sylhet's Companiganj upazila is an example of how cruel man can be towards nature and the environment.
Shah Arefin Tila in Bholaganj is gradually being razed to the ground, thanks to the greed of some unscrupulous stone traders and the authorities for not taking proper steps.
Several other hills and hillocks in five other nearby upazilas -- Sylhet Sadar, Beanibazar, Jaintiapur, Gowainghat and Golapganj -- are suffering similar fate but the state of Shah Arefin Tila is most severe.
The hillock is not leased to anyone but a group of unauthorised traders, backed by some influential locals, have already destroyed its around 137.50 acres to extract stone, said environmentalists and some district administration officials.
Apart from using labourers to cut down the hillock, dredgers, locally known as Boma Machines, have also been in use there over the years.
Despite a High Court ban on it, Boma Machine is usually used to extract stones from the rivers.
Talking to The Daily Star, several environment activists said while extracting stone from hillocks, the machine sometimes triggers collapse of land.
It is quite easy to collect stone from hills than from the rivers. Again, the stone traders dump the earth in the nearby Sonai river with trucks, polluting the river as well, they said.
According to the district administration, the Bureau of Mineral Development used to lease the hills and hillocks as stone extracting zones via the revenue section of the administration before 2012. That year, the High Court banned the practice.
The HC cancelled leasing out of the hills and hillocks in the six upazilas of Sylhet after the Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (Bela) filed a writ petition to stop the indiscriminate hill cutting.
The court also ordered the administration to take steps for protecting the hills and hillocks, including Shah Arefin Tila, said advocate Shah Shaheda Akter, coordinator of Bela's Sylhet division.
Bela filed another writ with the HC exclusively to save the Shah Arefin Tila. The issue is currently pending with the court.
The unscrupulous traders are extracting stone from the hillock violating the HC order. But the authorities seem to be unwilling to protect it, he said.
Abdul Karim Kim, general secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa), Sylhet, also said the authorities were looking the other way despite repeated calls from the environmentalists.
He urged the government to take immediate steps to stop the hill cutting.
Wishing not to be named, sources at the upazila and the district administration, said a syndicate of stone traders, backed by some influential locals, is flattening out the hillock. The men own the lands around the hillock and call themselves the lessee of the hillock.
Shamim Ahmed, president of Paschim Islampur Union Awami League, along with his father Abdul Basit, Companiganj upazila chairman and Shamim's brother Joynal Abedin, newly-elect member of ward-6 of Sylhet Zila Parishad, have a hand in the illegal business, the sources alleged.
However, Shamim Ahmed outright rejected the allegation brought against his family.
“We only import stone and coal from India and our family has no connection with hill cutting, stone extraction or selling”.
Contacted, Masum Billah, upazila nirbahi officer of Companiganj, denied the allegation that the authorities were ignoring the matter.
“We carry out regular drives against illegal stone extraction from hills. Even last month, the upazila administration destroyed some illegal machines used for such extraction,” he said.
Mostafizur Rahman, deputy director of the Department of Environment in Sylhet, said the authorities were well informed about hill cutting.
A taskforce, formed for the protection of the environment, carried out several drives since 2012 to save the hills, he said.
He, however, acknowledged the lack of manpower needed to launch frequent raids, creating scopes for the unscrupulous stone traders to destroy the hills and hillocks.
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