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Char Kukrimukri Forest

Plunderers to be prosecuted

Special Correspondent
The forest department has taken all measures to prosecute the plunderers of the mangrove forest at Char Kukrimukri, Chief Conservator of Forest Ishtiak Uddin Ahmed and Divisional Forest Officer in Bhola Sayed Ali confirmed.
“As the local police are refusing to cooperate with us in this regard, we have decided to file four separate cases under the forest act naming 31 people and others with the court of justice," said Sayed Ali.
Thousands of trees inside the mangrove forest have been chopped down by a group of locals to build a road in the remote island. A local lawmaker, Abdullah Al Islam alias Jacob, and his supporters reportedly have backed the tree felling.
The department is also preparing to prosecute the perpetrators under the Bangladesh Wildlife Act because the planned road destroys a considerable area
of the designated wildlife sanctuary, Ali added.
The main accused would be Hashem Mahajon, one of the men who led the plundering since a High Court bench on Wednesday passed a judgement directing authorities concerned to abide by environment and forest acts while constructing the road.
Felling trees and constructing a road in the mangrove forest is not only a defiance of laws but also a violation of justice, said Saber Hossain Chowdhury,
chair of the Jatiya Sangsad's All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change and Environment.
“In the last meeting of the parliamentary standing committee [on environment ministry] a decision was unanimously taken that no road could be built within any forest area of the country,” said Saber, also the ruling Awami League lawmaker.
The forest department move and Saber's reaction came after The Daily Star yesterday ran a report head-
lined “Mangrove forest plundered”.
“The road project in Char Kukrimukri is illegal. We are going to investigate how this project started without complying with the laws of the land,” Saber added.
“We have learnt from newspaper reports that a local lawmaker is involved with the project," Saber added, “Nobody is above the law; if his [the lawmaker's] involvement is proven, he must be brought to book.”