After damaging two canals by building dams and extracting their sand, a local syndicate connected to the ruling party, is now tearing apart a wildlife sanctuary by digging out sand from it and topsoil from adjacent arable land in Dulahazara union of Chakaria upazila in Cox’s Bazar. Unfortunately, in spite of environmental threats, the local administration leased the ecologically sensitive land for sand extraction. According to a media report published on Saturday, the two canals, leased out in January this year to a local influential group, are Paglir Chara canal and Dulahazara canal while Fasiakhali forestland is known as one of the habitats for critically endangered Asian Elephants.
Locals said the syndicate has been extracting sand and topsoil from the canals and the farmland using dredgers, selling the extracted sand and soil for construction work. Some 50 trucks carry the sand and soil every day to various construction sites. In the process, trees, shrubs, sun grass and herbs are being cleared while various wildlife are losing their habitat in the area. Though late, a DoE team fined eight people involved in the illegal act, before it was leased again this year by the district administration.
It is alleged that the grabbers are very powerful. They are destroying both the canals and the forestland forcefully. Affected locals whose arable land was reduced to ditches due to earth extraction filed a complaint with the district administration on February 1 seeking remedy. To them, their ancestral arable land now runs the risk of collapsing as adjacent land turned into a pond due to scooping out of earth. Not only that, the forestland also fell victim to the syndicate. Meanwhile, a Cox’s Bazar-based environmental organisation said the forestland and farmland belonging to locals were excavated 30 feet deep, turning an estimated 300 acres of arable and forestland into large ponds. Even the nearby forest, which is home to various species of wildlife, has not been spared. Sadly, the authorities are paying little attention to it.
We also witnessed before how canals and forestland are taken by the government organisations, or how by the grabbers affiliated with members of the ruling party. Negligence and apathy towards enforcing land protection laws are amongst the main causes behind such criminal activities. It may not be an easy task to free all the canals and cropland that have been encroached, but we demand the authorities must take initiatives to evict grabbers nationwide. If there is political will, rescue of our grabbed canals and forestland will be possible.
