Over 5,000 trees felled for repairing embankment:Daily Star

Only the stumps remain of around 5,000 trees on the embankment at Sekandarkhali of Amtali of Barguna. Photo: Arifur Rahman More than 5,000 trees along the flood control embankment at Dafadar Bridge and Sekandarkhali village in Amtali upazila of Barguna have been chopped down in the name of repairing the embankment. Amtali forest office sources said about 10,000 trees had been planted under the “gr
een belt” project on the 8 km flood control dam built by the Water Development Board (WDB) in the 1999-2000 fiscal year by forming a village cooperative. A major part (5 km) of the embankment stretched from Dafadar Bridge to Surandi dam and the rest was built on the adjacent Sekandarkhali village. Different types of trees were planted along the embankment in both the areas. According to an agreement between the forest department and beneficiary groups which include local people, union parishad, and the WDB, these trees can be felled 20 years after plantation. Workers of a contractor chopped down the trees with the excuse of mending the dam. The photo was taken yesterday. Photo: Arifur Rahman Recently the WDB took steps to repair the embankment and a construction firm was selected through a tender for the repair work only. But last week, the contractor's men started felling trees to repair the dam with the help of WDB men. On Thursday, Sekandar Munshi and Abdus Sattar Musullee of Sekandarkhali village submitted a written complaint to the upazila nirbahi officer of Amtali over the issue. “A section of local influential people have already looted some trees from the dam,” said Abdus Sattar, adding that more than 5,000 trees have already been felled. Amtali UNO Mizanur Rahman visited the area on Sunday and asked the WDB men and some forest men to stop felling trees. “Nobody can cut trees without a tender,” the UNO said. Certain procedures, including a tender from the forest department, are required for cutting trees, he added. Abdul Maleque, executive engineer of the WDB in Barguna, said, “I didn't give permission to cut trees.” Forest department can take actions against the persons involved in cutting trees, he said. Mihir Kanti, divisional forest officer (DFO) said, the WDB men started chopping the trees without obtaining any permission. “We will take action against them who allegedly cut the trees defying rules,” he added. Mir Jahurul Haque, deputy commissioner of Barguna, said, “Steps to stop cutting trees have already been taken by the UNO and I asked to take legal steps against those involved.”   Advertisement