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Road Thru' Lawachhara

Govt to shut it to save wildlife

Plans to build road around the forest

Mintu Deshwara
The government has taken an initiative to close the road and rail route that slices through Lawachhara reserve forest at Kamalganj upazila of Moulvibazar, in an effort to protect the wildlife in the nature reserve.
According to a recent survey, it is possible to close that route and build a road that would go around the forest connecting Bottola in Kamalganj upazila with Radhanagar in Srimangal upazila.
The survey came after a review meeting on July 2, 2017, held at the Prime Minister's Office on issues relating to Lawachhara National Park, Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary and Ratargul Aquatic Forest.
The survey was jointly conducted by Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department and the Roads and Highways Department in Moulvibazar.
The government declared the 1,250-hectare semievergreen Lawachhara forest a national park in 1996 under the 1974 Wildlife Act.
Environmentalists have long been advocating for the closure of the route through the reserve forest which is home to several rare, endangered animals. There are 167 species of plants, 4 types of amphibians, 6 species of reptiles, 246 species of birds and 20 species of mammals.
Animals are injured or killed regularly while they cross the road inside the forest, especially at night, Abul Hasan, joint convener of Lawachhara jib O Boichitro Rokha Andolon, a platform to protect the animals, told The Daily Star.
Dead animals are often seen on the road side with injury marks on their bodies.
A very few vehicles plied the road when it was first constructed. Now, 200 to 300 vehicles use it every day. At least 200 wild animals are killed every year on the Dhaka-Sylhet railway line and Srimangal-Kamalganj road, he added.
Assistant Forest Conservator of the Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department Anisur Rahman said an alternate route will help protect the forest animals.
After the alternate route is built, the road inside the forest will be closed, and the rail route will be fenced on both sides so that the wild animals cannot go near.
Md Rashedul Haque, sub-divisional engineer of the Roads and Highways Department in Moulvibazar, said the new route may be five kilometers more than the existing forest road that is about 6.5 kilometers long.
"So it is not a long way around and will not take much time."
The higher authorities will soon inform the authorities concerned about the start of construction of the alternate route, he added.