Disregarding a High Court directive and environmental laws, illegal hill cutting continues unabated in Dinarpur of Habiganj district due to lax monitoring of the authorities concerned. Still, many powerful individuals raze hills in the name of development work, housing and business establishments, ignoring the existing environmental laws and defying bans by the Department of Environment (DoE).
The HC in 2015 directed the government to stop hill cutting in the area and take appropriate legal steps against offenders. This gross violation disregard to the HC directive first came to the fore in 2016, when two workers were killed in a landslide while cutting hills in Dinarpur. Still, those involved with illegal hill cutting and sand extraction did not face any consequences, much to the astonishment of environmental activists in the district.
Like Dinarpur, hills and hillocks in Chattogram hill tracts are being labeled to make way for a housing project, much to the dismay of locals and environmentalists. Each year, landslides kill many people in the hilly areas but the greediness of people denies man-made danger. Many encroachers set up housing projects after razing the hillocks. Environmentalists said destruction of natural topography affects the area’s ecology, biodiversity, and geological formation. With powerful people from all levels as beneficiaries, everybody turned a blind eye to the destruction done by the housing project while local administration is directly helping them. DoE and other law enforcement agencies are not sincere in stopping the menace of hill cutting.
According to Bangladesh Environment Preservation Act 1995 cutting a hill without the approval of the DoE is illegal. The punishment for breaking the law is up to two years’ imprisonment or Tk 2 lakh fine, or both for the first time. The second time, it is up to 10 years’ imprisonment or Tk 10 lakh fine or both. The lofty laws are fine in books but without execution, the laws can only pile up shelves not prevent hill cutting.
