Sylhet Correspondent :
More than 250 crushers around tourist spot Jaflong, some 55km north of Sylhet city, are crushing stones illegally occupying land belonging to Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and Bangladesh Forest Department.
Visiting the area earlier this month, this correspondent found many unauthorized crushers occupying land along the Sylhet-Tamabil Highway.
Most of the stone crushing machines were set up uprooting trees and removing vegetation on the land of RHD.
The unauthorised crushers along with 300 authorised ones are contributing to air pollution in the area. Moreover, tourists and residents of the area are subjected to sound pollution.
‘Most of the stone-crushing units have permission from the environment department,’ claimed Mobashwir Ahmed, general secretary of Sylhet Stone Crusher Mill Malik Samity.
However, some smaller crushers, popularly known as Tomtoms, have been set up haphazardly without permission from the authorities concerned.
‘We have repeatedly applied to the environment department for drives against the illegal stone crushers, but no step has been taken,’ he alleged.
Mostafizur Rahman, assistant director of The Department of Environment, said, ‘We will soon launch a drive against those crushing stone illegally.’
