Sylhet Bureau :
Amid widespread criticism across the country over stone looting in Jaflong and Sadapathar areas of Sylhet, Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet (DC) has been transferred. On Monday (August 18), Sylhet DC Sher Mahbub Murad was ordered to be transferred. The new DC of Sylhet has been appointed in place of Murad, the discussed magistrate Md. Sarwar Alam. Sher Mahbub Murad joined as the Sylhet Deputy Commissioner on September 24 last year. During his tenure, there were allegations of widespread sand and stone looting from various quarries including Jaflong in Gowainghat upazila of Sylhet and Bholaganj and Sadapathar in Companiganj upazila. There was a strong reaction across the country recently over the unprecedented stone looting in Sadapathar. Since then, the issue of the administration’s indifference and failure in stone looting has been widely discussed. On Sunday, Environment Advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan also said that the local administration is responsible for stone looting. Action will be taken against them. The order of the Environment Advisor was delivered to the Sylhet Deputy Commissioner the next day. Earlier, officials of the Anti-Corruption Commission who visited the white stone also said that the local administration has failed in stone looting. Although attempts were made to contact Deputy Commissioner Sher Mahbub Murad on his mobile phone in this regard, he did not receive the phone. Meanwhile, on Monday (August 18), the Ministry of Public Administration issued a notification appointing Md. Sarwar Alam as the Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet. The notification was issued by the Field Administration-2 branch of the Ministry of Public Administration. The notification states that BCS (Administration) cadre officer Sarwar Alam has been transferred and posted as the Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Sylhet district. Incidentally, there are 51 quarries (specified places for extracting stone and sand) across the country. Of these, there are eight stone quarries in Kanaighat, Companiganj, Gowainghat and Jaintapur in Sylhet. Apart from these, there are stones in 10 more places in Sylhet including Sadapathar, Jaflong, Bichnakandi, Utmachara. These places are known as tourist centers. These stones come from the hill rivers of India across the border. Before 2020, eight quarries in Sylhet, excluding the reserved areas, were given the opportunity to extract stones on lease. However, due to damage to the environment and environment, no more stone quarry leases were given after 2020. Businessmen and political party leaders in Sylhet have always taken a strong stand in favor of extracting stones. In the past five years, they have tried to resume quarry leases in various ways, but the government did not give permission. In this situation, people used to illegally extract stones at night in secret. After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5 last year, stone looting continued for a year.
