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Pickets feast on highway trees

Staff Correspondent
The main opposition BNP and its allies are felling thousands of roadside trees to block the highways on every occasion of their protests against the government and establishing their names as "tree plunderers"
A housewife was killed on November 27 during the blockade as a branch of a tree fell on her head. The protesters felled thousands of roadside trees, one of which hit Ambia Khatun at Kolaroa in Satkhira.
In addition to deaths of people and destruction of public property the ongoing political unrest has seen destruction of environment as well.
"It seems those unruly activists have taken up a scorch policy similar to what the Pakistani army did in 1971/ said architect Iqbal Habib, joint secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon.
"It's a heinous offence. I don't think there is any chance of any welfare to the country by those tree plunders," he added.
When political parties in other countries are including environmental issues in their agendas, activists of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh are playing a role to damage the environment.
The BNP is contradicting its position about environment as pledged before the last national election held in 2008. In its election manifesto, the party pledged to stop tree felling completely and made a commitment to planting trees along all the roads, highways and railway tracks across the country.
But the reality is the BNP-led alliance, especially Jamaat, has felled a huge number of roadside trees in last few months which were planted in last few years.
Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat, has felled thousands
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of trees on every occasion of their political protests.
Shibir has also sent press releases to the media claiming credit as to how many roads they had blocked by felling trees. The green campaigners have termed it an irony for a country which is facing the adverse effects of climate change.
After their leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee was sentenced to death in a war crimes trial on February 28, Jamaat-Shibir activists went on the rampage across the country. Minister for Forest and Environment Hasan Mahmud on June 23 said 10,042 trees were felled across the country' only after Sayedee verdict was delivered.
In the last few months, BNP-Jamaat activists have cleared as long as 12 kilometres of Dhaka-Pabna Highway, felling a few thousands trees. The government agencies concerned, however, could not give any data on the tree felled by the opposition activists, reports our Pabna correspondent.
Police and eyewitness say the opposi-
tion men put up barricades on a 12-km-stretch of the highway from Pabna bus terminal to Pushpopara point by felling roadside trees indiscriminately.
"More than a hundred trees were felled only in Rajapur, Modhupur, Bangabaria, Pushpopara and a few other spots of the highway. In the last few months the opposition men have indiscriminately felled trees. We have recovered the felled trees and a few cases were filed," said Kazi Haniful Islam, officer-in-charge of Pabna sadar police.
At least 130 roadside trees were cut down by the activists of the 18-party alliance in Gaibandha during the last three days of the blockade, reports our Gaibandha correspondent.
According to the district forest office, trees were felled along the highways in Sunderganj, Gobindaganj and Palashbari.
"The number will increase as we are still getting information on more felled trees," said Jamal Uddin, in-charge, district forest office.