120 hills disappeared from Chattogram city in 4 decades, despite court orders

ENVIRONMENTALISTS have asked for taking legal steps against those who were involved in the heinous hill razing and destroying the ecology in Chattogram. All administrative sections, including Chattogram City Corporation, District Administration, and the Department of Environment — have long been ignoring court orders on hill protection. The court had ordered in 2012 to take appropriate steps to protect the hills of Chattogram region. Then another order was given to protect the hills of the port city’s Akbar Shah area in 2015. But both the orders are being ignored. Researchers said a total of 120 hills out of 200 disappeared from Chattogram city in the last four decades.
Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) also cut hills and hillocks for road construction and development work. The CCC authorities have constructed a 1-kilometre road by cutting the hill that spans across Beltalighona to Baitul Aman Jame Masjid. According to CCC data, the road construction project has a budget of Tk 2.68 crore and is financed by Asian Development Bank.
Each year, landslides kill many people in the hilly areas but the greediness of people denies man-made danger. Many encroachers set up housing projects after razing the hillocks. Environmentalists said the destruction of natural topography affects the area’s ecology, biodiversity, and geological formation. With powerful people from all levels as beneficiaries, everybody turned a blind eye to the destruction done by the housing project while the local administration is directly helping them. DoE and other law enforcement agencies are not sincere in stopping the menace of hill cutting.
According to Bangladesh Environment Preservation Act 1995 cutting a hill without the approval of the DoE is illegal. The punishment for breaking the law is up to two years imprisonment or Tk 2 lakh fine, or both for the first time. The second time, it is up to 10 years imprisonment or a Tk 10 lakh fine or both. The lofty laws are fine in books but without execution, the laws can only pile up shelves and not prevent hill cutting.