HC injunction on 2 housing projects
Bela files petitions to save Bayezid Bostami shrine and Madarsha Sreebil
The High Court yesterday issued an injunction for six months on implementation of two separate housing projects to protect the environment and heritage of Bayezid Bostami shrine and Madarsha Sreebil areas in Chittagong.
In response to separate writ petitions, the HC directed the authorities to stop construction of a housing project on the bank of a century-old pond, where rare species of tortoises are living, near Bayezid Bostami shrine, which is also a national heritage site.
JMG Holding Estate and Developer, a private housing company, is implementing a housing project damaging the pond and its rare species of tortoises, petitioner's lawyer Iqbal Kabir Lytton told The Daily Star.
The rare species of tortoises, which are a part of the national heritage, would go extinct, if the housing project was implemented near the pond, he said.
The court yesterday also ordered for stopping implementation of a housing project at Madarsha Sreebil, a water body and agricultural land area at Hathazari upazila in Chittagong.
The HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim issued the orders after hearing the writ petitions filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) recently.
The court also issued separate rules upon the authorities concerned of the government and projects to explain in three weeks why the projects should not be declared illegal and against the public interest.
In the rules, the court asked the authorities to explain why they should not be directed to protect the environment and heritage of the areas where the housing projects were being implemented.
Bela filed the petitions seeking HC directives on the authorities to save the environment and heritage near Bayezid Bostami shrine and Madarsha areas.
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