Minerals being plundered, ecology destroyed in Netrakona

A veritable pond (left) created due to unplanned extraction of China Clay is filled with water till now threatening a hill at Bijoypur and a heap (right) of the mineral kept only to be washed away by rains. The photo was taken on Tuesday.. PHOTO: STAR

Its unplanned extraction is threatening the ecology of hilly Bijapur area in Durgapur upazila near the border. The hillocks may crumple any moment, local people fear.

The raw material is also being smuggled out as the area is only about half a mile from the border, they alleged.

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Instead of being a boost, the huge deposit of the raw material has become a bane for the area, mainly inhabited by Garo tribesmen. Several appeals to successive governments for setting up of a ceramic industry in Netrakona went unheeded, leaders of Netrakona Chamber of Commerce said while talking to this correspondent.

Quoting government estimate they said there is a deposit of over two lakh metric tonnes of china clay in the mine spread over eight kilometres in length and one kilometre in breadth. The entire area is being plundered in the search for clay, without pinpointing the depots.

It is extracted during winter by cutting hills and digging deep into the ground indiscriminately, making big ditches which look like ponds. The extracted clay is stored in heaps nearby. When the rainy season comes, it is carried in boats. Rains wash away huge quantities of stored clay.

During a recent visit to the area, some big ditches near hillocks were seen filled with water, looking like ponds. The hillocks may crumble.

Four Dhaka-based ceramic companies are extracting the clay from the area in an unplanned way under five-year lease terms, it was gathered from local people and the chamber leaders.

But none from the government was found there to oversee the extraction.

In the absence of any supervision, the extractors dig as much deeper as they can because the more deeper they go, the better the clay is. So they do not care about the possible disaster, local people said.

The chamber leaders said representations were given to the government many a times to regulate the unplanned and indiscriminate extraction, but to no effect.