WITH the monsoon here, fear of landslides grip those living in the hill regions, especially on the hillsides. Several thousand people of low-income group live on the slopes and foot of hills in Chittagong city, but the authorities concerned are yet to take any effective step, except for some talks, to evacuate them to safer places.
On June 2, the Hill Management Committee (HMC) directed organisations and individuals who owned the hills or land around them to submit the lists of families exposed to the danger of landslides by June 8. In the meeting, Chittagong Divisional Commissioner Md Abdullah, who heads the Committee, also directed the authorities concerned to disconnect all utility lines at the vulnerable areas after receiving the lists. But none complied.
The Chittagong city is a densely populated area. For accommodation people build house on the top of the hills or on slope or on the foot of hills without following the existing rules and regulations. Greedy influential people and muscle-men invaded the government hills and build temporary houses on them to earn money by renting them to the poor people. The steep slope of the hill cannot bear the mass weight of the wet soil or mud that results in landslide. The recent landslide in Chittagong city was the result of hill cutting and steep slopes of the hills.
When it rains, water dissolves the minerals of the soil of the hills that loosen its compaction. Soils of the hills also become heavy by absorbing rainwater. If rain intensity is too high, minerals of soil dissolve very quickly and the soil turns into mud and becomes very heavy. The steep slope of the hill cannot bear the mass weight of the wet soil or mud that results the landslide. The most affected areas because of indiscriminate hill cutting are Khulshi, Panchlaish, Sholoshahar, Bayezid Bostami, Foy’s Lake, Lalkhan Bazar, Pahartali, Kattali and Polytechnic area.
Among all the causes the most important matter is to level the undulating land or filling the low land for dwelling. Developers play an important role in creating land this way. Statistics reveals that around 36% of the respondents, when asked about hill cutting, believe that levelling land for construction of building is the main cause of hill cutting.
It is crystal clear that it is not the deficit or insufficiency of law rather the non-application or poor application of law which destroys the hills and causing the death of hundreds of people in Chittagong. Again, the strict law enforcement is not the only solution to get rid of this situation rather proper implementation of laws can save the unique hills of Chittagong city. It is easy to cut and level a hill. But it is not that easy to rebuild a hill. Once beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, Chittagong city is losing its charm due to indiscriminate hill cutting.
