Stop sand, stones extortion from Sunamganj river: HC

The High Court today directed four government officials to take effective steps to stop extractions of sand and stones from the river Dhopajan Chalti in Bishamvarpur area in Sunamganj to save flow of its water and navigation.
In response to a contempt of court petition, the court also asked the officials including the deputy commissioner of Sunamganj to explain in four weeks why they have not fully complied with its order issued on July 22 last year for stopping the extractions.
The three other officials are--director of department of mineral resources (Sunamganj), director of the department of environment (Sunamganj) and upazila nirbahi officer of Bishamvarpur of the district.
They have been asked to take the steps to stop extractions of sand and stones from the river with assistance of police and to submit a compliance report to the HC on October 26, petitioner’s counsel Iqbal Kabir Lytton told The Daily Star.
The HC bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Md Ataur Rahman Khan also directed six other high officials to monitor the work of stopping extractions.
The six are—secretaries to the ministries of environment and forest, land, water resources and energy and mineral resources, directors general of water development board and the department of environment.
Following a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela), the HC on July 22 last year directed the officials concerned to take steps to stop extraction of sand and stones from the river.
The organisation on September 10 filed the contempt of court petition with the HC against the officials, saying that they have complied with the HC directive in part, and therefore the extraction of sand and stones was not fully stopped.