A NATIONAL daily reported on Monday that the picturesque tourist spots at Jaflong in Sylhet border below the Meghalayan hills is in a terrible shape as stone traders collecting boulders from Pyain river have almost destroyed its scenic character. Noise from crushing plants and dusts are more disturbing now to visitors than what was once the highly attracting feature of the scenic area with moving stream of water of the Pyain river coming down from the hills on the Indian side. A visit to the area immediately brings wonderful views to tourists as they see fountain of water running out from Indian Khasia hills at many places down to the plain on Bangladesh side.
But instead of building tourist infrastructure to create the place a most heart throbbing tourist spot by the government, private traders have rather engaged hundreds of workers, boats and such other mechanized tolls to commercially exploit the resources. They are collecting sands and boulders from riverbeds and using trucks and tractors to transfer boulders to crushing plants now crowding over hundreds on the riverbank and around. Boulders are essential construction material for big buildings and infrastructure projects. These are transported to Dhaka and other business centers throughout the country making it thousands crore taka business annually. Environmentalists however consider it as the biggest human-made disaster to the panoramic landscape to show how cruel men can be to the nature by destroying it.
Despite the fact that the High Court has asked the government to remove all mechanized toll and crushing plants from the area to protect the eco-system, biodiversity and livelihoods of people living along the rivers, it is no wonder that the illegal stone business continuing unabated because powerful ruling party people during every government have their business interest in it. The government is protecting such interest instead of protecting the best treasure of the nature.
Media disclosure said 90 percent businessmen are using mechanized equipment illegally to collect sands and boulders dumping them on riverbank and obstructing water flow to change its course. It is not only damaging fisheries, orange plantation is also facing severe setback. Meanwhile the Dawki River, which is also flowing on both sides of the border, is almost dead due to the unplanned stone extraction.
What we want to say is that the government must implement the High Court Order immediately to protect Jaflong as a tourist hub. Moreover, its infrastructure must be developed to keep it as a landmark spot on India-Bangladesh border.
