Miscreants felling roadside trees in Ctg

Century-old trees being cut down at Tigerpass in Ambagan area in Chittagong city's Pahartali yesterday. No one could ascertain who actually ordered the move, although people who were cutting the trees said a local Awami League leader instructed them to do so. Photo: Prabir Das

Trees on railway (east zone) land in Pahartali area of Chittagong city have been being felled for the last few days.
While visiting the area yesterday, The Daily Star correspondent found that some workers were cutting down the trees.
Asked, they said a local Awami League leader had instructed them to do so.  
The trees included Krishnachura and Karoi.
Locals said there were century-old trees too.
Contacted, the AL leader denied the allegation, and said he did not instruct anybody to cut the trees.  
On condition of anonymity, a worker said there might be permission from the authorities concerned to cut the trees as Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) was expanding roads in the area.
Contacted, Abu Saleh, executive engineer of CCC, said no trees had been cut for the expansion work.
Tarun Kanti Bala,  divisional engineer-2 of Bangladesh Railway (East Zone), said a joint team of railway and police had visited the spot in the evening, and arrested two workers while cutting trees. The team also seized a truckload of woods.
He, however, could not ascertain who instructed the workers to cut the trees.