No action against illegal sand extraction in Companiganj
S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
Without a lease, a festival of illegal sand extraction has started in Companiganj on the border of Sylhet. A local political syndicate is involved in this sand extraction. This syndicate includes some local leaders from the fallen Awami League, BNP and Jamaat.
This organized group has so far extracted sand worth crores of taka and stockpiled it on both banks of the Piain River. They are illegally extracting sand from areas outside the lease by installing sand and environmentally destructive bomb machines in the river. However, the Upazila Administration is silent about stopping this extraction. Even the extracted sand has not been taken any action. If the sand was seized, not only would the government’s revenue be ensured, but the illegal activities of illegal sand extractors would also be stopped.
A source claims that the sand-eating political syndicate is extracting sand after ensuring that the Bagbatwaras of the upazila administration’s land are concerned.
According to the locals, the upazila administration is not taking any initiative to stop this illegal sand extraction. If they had conducted a campaign, the government’s revenue coffers would have been filled. But instead of doing that, the local upazila administration is taking the sand from the sand-eating people in the name of the district administration.
Several villages, Haji Hasan Ali Government Primary School, roads, mosques, Eidgahs, graveyards, Shimultala Shelter Project (Guchhagram) and various other establishments, including cropland, are under threat due to unplanned sand extraction. The locals are in panic.
Investigations have revealed that sand extraction is going on illegally day and night with more than half a hundred shallow machines and bomb machines on both banks of the Piain River from Buridahar Haji Hasan Ali Government Primary School to Lamanigaon.
It is learned that despite not having a lease, the police administration has managed to extract about 12 million cubic feet of sand. Local residents are subjected to torture whenever they talk about sand extraction.
Some people who do not want to be named in this regard said that torture starts whenever they talk about sand extraction. Some have even been threatened with death.
Uzayer Al Mahmud Adnan, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Companiganj Police Station, said, “We are conducting regular operations. Many boats and sand machines have been destroyed. Even then, illegal sand extraction cannot be stopped.”
Despite repeated calls to Upazila Nirbahi Officer Azizunnahar to inquire about this, he did not answer the phone.
