Showing thumbs to district administration, two chairmen of upzila parishad have been cutting hundreds of roadside trees at Katabari and Sapmara union parishads, Gobindaganj upazila, Gaibandha over last couple of weeks.
According to Katabari and Sapmara union parishad offices, about 500 eucalyptus tress has been planted along Hausipara-Kotalpur road from Hausipara to Sapmara union 10 years back.
“Till Sunday over 200 tress have been fallen and worth of these tress is about Tk7 lakh. These tress being sent to different parts of the country everyday.”
During a visit to Hausipara-Kotalpur road this correspondent found that hundreds of logs have been keep on the ground of a rice mill. Some people were weighing logs and some were loading those on trucks, however, the two chairmen were not present there. Leaves and branches were remain scattered on a good portion of the road.
Mohabbat Ali, a resident of Hausipara, told the Dhaka Tribune that apart from maintaining ecological balance, these tress had also added the beauty of the road. Although the tress had been cut over the last few days, nobody from the district administration came stop cutting down of tress.
“We have been observing for the last couple of week men Katabari union parishad chairman Tofazzal Hossain and Katabari union parishad chairman have been cutting down government tress, but there is no one to stop the illegal activities.”
According to circular of Local Government Rural Development Ministry, approval from union parishad office is needed to cut any tress owned by union parishad.
Before that a proposal should have placed to upazila parishad committee to take approval. upzila nirbahi officer, assistant commissioner (land), upzila chairman, upzila agriculture officer, upazila project implementation officer and divisional forest officer are the members of the committee.
When Sapmara union parishad chairman Tofazzal Hossain denied cutting any tress.
Chairman of Katabari union parishad Jobayer Hasan told the Dhaka Tribune that they were cutting tree after taking permisson from upazila council committee.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Abdul Hannan told the Dhaka Tribune that they had not given any approval to cut tress at Katabari and Sapmara union parishads. He said they would look into the matter.