Editorial
Now plundering of hills!
Another dimension to environment degradation
Following encroachment of rivers and water bodies it is now the turn for hillocks to be emasculated, destroyed.
The landscape in parts of Tangail is being shorn of its beauty and ecological balance. Two hillocks at Kismotkatra village near Jharka forest in Tangail are being sliced off into pieces of earth for sale. Two locally influential persons have been doing this claiming ownership to the property and selling about 30,000 cubic feet of earth everyday. Half of the 40 feet hills have already been flattened, putting the populous village at risk of being victim of landslide at this time of the rainy season.
Hill cutting in the area has been reportedly going on for the last four years. If that be so, what have the authorities been doing all this time? Despite complaints lodged with the forest officials and upazilla administration no steps were taken to stop the act of depredation. Little wonder, now it is free for all.
Although the land is said to be disputed, officials of the Department of Environment say, cutting of hillocks is a punishable offence and the DoE is planning to take legal action against the offending persons. Still planning? Why don't you get a move on to bring the illegal traders to book?
Even if the land is owned by private parties why should they destroy it for mere profit making at the expense of environmental balance? Forest lands, especially high grounds, be they public or private, should not be left to the mercy of expropriators, these ought to be preserved at any cost. DoE and local administrations across the country should be on guard against those who violate environmental laws to satisfy their commercial interests of the injurious type. We are already short of woods and rivers, so that any new form of environmental degradation should be forcefully resisted, before it begins to be replicated with impunity.
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