THE landscape and ecosystem in Tangail are under threat due to flattening of hillocks by influential people. One of the Pleistocene terraces, Tangail Sal Forest grew around these hillocks, is now disappearing quickly resulting in losing habitation of flora and fauna. The reddish and yellowish topographic featured area was a habitat for different varieties of birds and snakes but razing the hillocks will subsequently affect their lifecycle. People are cutting hillocks to make way for high-end resorts and eco-parks and filling up low-lying land, a double-edged blade that cuts the environment mostly.
We know, the hillocks in Gazipur and Tangail are undergoing a transformation due to rapid commercialisation and urbanization. In Gazipur, around 1,300 acres of forest has set to wipe out to make way for the RAJUK’s Purbachal housing project. The district administration has already acquired around 1,600 acres of land in five villages under Kaliganj Upazila for the scheme that has no environment clearance from the Department of Environment. The acquired land is rich in biodiversity and mostly covered by Sal forest. In Gazipur, 42.46 per cent is covered by forest, 39.47 per cent by cultivable land and 9.75 per cent by homesteads.
The Madhupur Sal Forest is a unique example of how the government let the foresters steal trees, and let people grab forestland violating the rights of the forest inhabitants. Over 85 per cent of the natural forest from Madhupur has vanished in the last 50 years. We know, the forests in Gazipur have been long on the verge of extinction due to illegal felling of trees and illegally excavation of the reserved forest land by the vested quarters. They usually work at night and use excavators to dig up the soil. Later they sell it to ceramic factories, brick kilns, and under construction factories.
Cutting hillocks is a punishable offense even if they are on private land but the vested quarter is seemingly above of laws. We do agree the necessity of urbanization and development but it must not be at the cost of ecology. A sincere commitment involving all political parties about an ‘environment-friendly development policy’ could save us from the ecological danger.
