Over 5,000 roadside trees looted

24 December 2009, 17:00 PM

Rafique Sarker, Rangpur

Trunks of trees felled by criminals lie on both sides of Harinshing-Kanchan Bazar road in Pirganj upazila of Rangpur district, right, the gang taking away the trees in a truck in broad daylight.Photo: STAR

Criminals allegedly backed by some local political leaders cut down over 5,000 roadside trees and took them away in broad daylight while the authorities concerned played the role of silent spectators. Equipped with sharp weapons, the plunderers numbering about 50 felled the trees from both sides of Harinshing-Kanchan Bazar Road in Pirganj upazila of the district on Saturday and Sunday and threatened the witnesses with dire consequences if anyone protested the matter or informed administration or police, locals said. They alleged that they informed police and upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) about the mindless tree felling but to no effect. Ashraful of Shamsherpara village, Hafizar Rahman of Mattialpara, Shajahan of Gramtala, Nuru of Hossainpur, Rezwan of Ghona Chatra and Shafiqul Islam led the looters, a number of witnesses said on condition of anonymity. Sohag Mondal of Mattialpara said they also informed local leaders of Awami League and BNP about the incident but nobody came forward to stop felling of trees. A member of Chatra Union Parishad (UP) on condition of anonymity said that the criminals felled the trees in collusion with a section of officials of local administration, police and leaders of political parties. Abu Shaheen Md Asaduzzaman, UNO of Pirganj, said, “Whenever I got any complaint about felling roadside trees, I have tried to do my duty. In fact, I had nothing to do other than informing police about the plundering as the road belongs to the district board (Zilla Parishad).” Denying the allegation, Pirganj police station officer-in-charge Roushan Mostafa said, “It's not true that police did not take any action. Police raided the houses of some accused several times. On Monday, police seized about 500 logs of eucalyptus trees from the spot.” The Hunger Project, an NGO, planted about 10,000 eucalyptus trees on both sides of the two-km long road around 10 years ago. A few years later, the NGO abruptly stopped its programme. Since then people living near the road had been taking care of the trees, local sources said. Meanwhile, police arrested one Tosaddek Miah on Tuesday night from Chatra area in connection with felling of trees. The same evening, Rafiqul Islam, secretary of the district board, filed a case with Pirganj police against Tosaddek and his accomplices on charge of felling the trees. But the OC of Pirganj police station said that Tosaddek was the first to lodge a complain in this connection. He filed the case with the police station on Monday, he added. Rafiqul Islam, however, said Tosaddek and his accomplices were trying to play innocent by lodging a case.