Hill cutters, river grabbers must be brought to book

HILL cutting by a local syndicate at Jaychandi union under Kulaura upazila in Moulvibazar, reportedly goes unabated, seriously threatening the environment of the locality.

Local people do not go to the press over the issue of hill cutting as they face threats by the syndicate.

Similar situation prevails in the case of hill-razing in Chattogram and other hilly areas as the government fails to protect the environment from encroachers and grabbers.

Illegal sale of earth and stone by cutting hills, which are essential for environmental and ecological balance, is nothing new in Bangladesh.

So are the risks of landslides and deaths of people living on the mountain slopes in the country’s hilly region! According to Section 6 (Kha) of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995, razing of hills and hillocks is prohibited except for national interest with the necessary permission of the Department of Environment.

Bangladesh is far away from making and publishing the names of hill cutters.

Thankfully the country made a list of 37,000 river grabbers at the cost of Tk 34 crore in the space between 2017 and 2022 but its publication was blocked by the National River Conservation Commission.

So it is evident that the ruling party doesn’t afford making the list of hill cutters, let alone publishing the names of the persons and syndicates involved in damaging the environment as these sections of wrongdoers and cronies are directly or indirectly linked with the rulers.

We, therefore, ask the authorities concerned to make a list of hill-cutters in no time and make the list public so that punitive measures can be taken against those encroachers of environmental entities.

Between 2000 and 2018, more than 727 people lost lives and 1017 were injured due to landslides; on average, 19 landslides happen each year with a 4 per cent growth rate.