Madrasa super 'fells' 12 trees

Twelve trees in Jamalpur's Bakshiganj upazila under the social forestation programme were felled and taken away allegedly by a locally influential madrasa superintendent recently, said locals and Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) sources.
The accused is Maulana Hashmot Ali, son of Mujammel Haque of Madarerchar village of the district's Dewanganj upazila and superintendent of the village's Abdul Gani Dakhil Madrasa, said AKM Hedaet Ullah, engineer at Bakshiganj LGED.
Hashmot felled the trees, planted with support from the LGED and Care Bangladesh in 2002, between 9:00pm on Tuesday and 12:00 noon the next day, he said.
As per the programme, proceeds from the sale of the trees, once full grown in 2017, were supposed to be shared among the landowners (30 percent) and caretakers (20 percent) concerned and the union parishad (25 percent) and the LGED (25 percent).
The LGED was planning to chop down six trees to construct a 150-feet bridge on Bakshiganj-Gazirara road at Majarpara village, said Hedaet.
Accordingly, an auction committee was supposed to be formed headed by the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) and comprising the LGED engineer and representatives of the caretakers and landowners to decide and see to the timber's sale, he said.
Two of the caretakers, Gulechha Begum and Rahima, said Hashmot threatened them of dire consequences if they tried to pursue the matter.
The duo submitted a written complaint in this connection to UNO Debashish Nag, who said legal steps would be taken after an investigation.
Refuting the allegation, Hashmot, in turn, accused the LGED engineer and UNO of ordered the axing of the trees.