Sea beach grabbing and destruction of greenbelt
HARDLY a couple of weeks back, report on how illegal loggers were decimating hundreds of thousands of acres of forestlands in Rangamati was carried by this paper. Now we have the powerful local groups who have despoiled 30,000 Jhau (Tamarisk) trees on a 10 kilometres stretch of greenbelt in Teknaf along the Cox's Bazar seacoast within the span of a week. By their act, they have not only looted forest resources illegally, but also have exposed the coastland vulnerably to the cyclones and tidal bores from the sea. The speed with which these vandals have completed their mission is a telltale sign of their limitless greed, power as well as organisation vis-à-vis the total inaction of the forest department and the administration. As if emboldened by the way that looters of forest have gotten away with their vile act, the influential grabbers of land have appeared on the scene to encroach on the 100-kilometre Cox's Bazar and the 17-kilometre Kuakata sea beaches. That the quarters so involved in illegal seizure of the sea beaches are no respecters of law is made glaringly evident from the signboards unabashedly declaring that patches of khas land of the beach are their private properties.
Against this backdrop, reassuringly, prime minister has issued directive to go tough on the plunderers of the jhau forest regardless of their political identity. That expresses the head of the government's concern about the threat that the activities of the beach-grabbers have caused to the coastal ecology and the overall environment of the country.
We appreciate the prime minister's quick response to the reports on the destruction of coastal greenbelt resulting in Thursday's directive against the tree plunderers. Simultaneously, it is also expected that the authorities concerned would take necessary action matching the promptness with which the prime minister responded to the issue. For in the past we have seen that many such instant instructions issued from the top had met only with bureaucratic tardiness and inaction. So far as the ecological vulnerability of the places in question is concerned, the Department of Environment (DoE) has little to do but file cases against the illegal possessors of the 'ecologically critical' parts of the beaches in Cox's Bazar and Kuakata.
The despoilers of the greenbelt of Jhau trees on Cox's Bazar-Teknaf coastline and takers of 'ecologically critical, beach lands in Cox's Bazar and Kuakata are no strangers to the administration. Given enough political will, it is not hard to track them down, bring them to justice as well as free the sea beach from its illegal possessors. In a similar fashion, prompt measures have to be taken to plant fresh tree saplings on the deforested greenbelt. Last but not least, the local administration will have to create necessary safeguards against any further encroachment on the 'ecologically critical sea beach' and the green top cover of the coastal belts.
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