Administration moves stop white stone looting: 35,000 cubic feet stone recovered
S A Shofiee,Sylhet :
Finally, the Sylhet administration has moved to stop the looting of white stone. The district administration has already conducted raids in two tourist spots in Sylhet, Sada Pathar in Companiganj Upazila and Jaflong in Gowainghat Upazila Sylhet, in connection with the stone looting.
About 130 vehicles were searched in the raids till Thursday (August 14). Out of these, about 35,000 cubic feet of stone in about 70 trucks have been recovered and the process of dumping them back into the river is underway.
Additional District Magistrate of Sylhet Farzana Akhter Mita confirmed this information to the media.
A source in the district administration said that work is underway to return a large part of the recovered stones to the Dhalai River so that the natural flow and environment of the river can be restored. At the same time, a raid is underway to arrest those involved in the stone looting by night.
Additional District Magistrate Farzana Akhter Mita said that this operation will continue to protect natural resources and the environment. No one involved in illegal extraction, storage or smuggling of stones will be spared. About 130 vehicles have been searched at the check post since last night. During this time, if stones from the Sadapathar area were detected in about 70 vehicles, it was decided to replace them.
Earlier, after the widespread looting at the Sadapathar tourist center, the district administration said that a 3-member investigation committee had been formed on August 13. The committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner Padmasan Singh investigated the stone looting incident. The committee has been instructed to submit its investigation report by August 17. It was also decided in the meeting that the joint forces will be on duty in the Sadapathar area for 24 hours.
After the emergency meeting of the administration, the district administration and the joint forces launched the operation after 12 midnight. The operation was conducted overnight in Sylhet city and Sadapathar areas.
In the operation, looted piles of white stones were seized from different places. Later, they were taken to the Sadapathar area and replaced.
In addition, the joint forces set up a check post in front of the Sylhet Club in the Osmani Airport area on the Sylhet-Bholaganj road. Several trucks were stopped and stones were seized during the operation.
Deputy Commissioner of SMP Saiful Islam said that we have coordinated with the administration to set up a check post and conducted an operation to recover the stolen stones from Sadapathar. The joint forces’ operation to recover the looted stones will continue.
Earlier, the administration moved to protect the tourist center Sadapathar after the unprecedented looting. In view of this, an emergency coordination meeting was called at the Circuit House yesterday evening at the initiative of the Sylhet divisional and district administration. In the meeting, it was decided to recover the looted stones and restore them to their previous condition. Sylhet Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad confirmed this information on Wednesday night.
5 decisions were taken in the meeting to protect the Sadapathar. They are:
1. The joint forces will be on duty 24 hours a day in the Jaflong ECA area and the Sadapathar area.
2. The joint forces will be present at the police check posts in Gowainghat and Companiganj.
3. The operation to shut down illegal stone crushing machines and disconnect electricity connections will continue.
4. Those involved in stone theft will be identified and arrested and brought to justice.
5. The stolen stones will be recovered and returned to their original location.
The Sylhet district administration formed a three-member investigation committee on Tuesday (August 12) into the Sadapathar looting incident. The committee is scheduled to submit a report by next Sunday (August 17). After that, a team from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) visited the Sadapathar area yesterday to investigate the looting incident.
The ACC said that influential businessmen, high-ranking officials and some local residents may be involved in the stone looting. In addition, it is also investigating whether the local administration is most responsible and whether the administration is involved in the loss of tourism sector.
Recently, due to the inaction of the administration and the unbridled looting of influential people, several stone quarries in Sylhet, including the beautiful natural beauty of Sadapathar, have almost been destroyed. Since August 5, 2024, local political parties have been holding various movements demanding that the government open the quarries, including human chains, press conferences, strikes, etc. Under the cover of this demand, the ‘stone-eating gang’ has been looting stones from Sadapathar openly and secretly under the political umbrella.
Among them, all party posts of Companiganj Upazila BNP President Sahab Uddin have been suspended for his involvement in the looting of stones from Sadapathar.
Till the time of writing this report, Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad
(Thursday (August 14) afternoon) visited the tourist spot Sadapathar area of Companiganj.
At that time, he told reporters that the district administration has taken a strict stance to prevent the looting that has taken place in the Sadapathar area recently. Legal action will be taken against those involved in this illegal activity, including arrest. We hope that we will be able to recover the stolen items and replace them here soon.
This is a time-consuming matter, so we have taken necessary measures. In addition, we will take legal action to ensure that no one else can do the irreparable damage that has been done here, and we will take legal action against those involved in this activity, including arresting them, and we will destroy them as the law permits us, and we will do other processes. The Deputy Commissioner said, “Some important decisions were made in a district-level meeting yesterday. Its implementation started last night. Hopefully, it will be completed soon.”
