Seven councillors of Hafizabad union parishad in Panchagarh upazila placed an official complaint against Chairman Shahadat Hossain and Secretary Shahadat Hossain to the district administration for allegedly cutting down over a hundred roadside trees defying rules.
The councillors submitted the complaint to Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Salah Uddin on October 23, stating that the UP chairman and secretary had pulled down and sold the trees planted along 9km of the road between Diabari Dakhin Talma and Bhitargarh Balurghat in the union without following the proper procedure and arranging an auction, as per the rules.
Before them, the beneficiaries of said trees filed the same complaint against the accused union parishad officials with the district administration on October 21.
As no action was taken against the accused after submission of the complaint, the councillors and the beneficiaries sent the copy of the complaint to the local media on Wednesday afternoon and requested to make it public.
Sources at the union parishad said the trees were of different species, such as mahagoni, eucalyptus, etc, and had been planted in 1990 under a forestation project supported by the World Food Programme.
As per the project agreement, the trees were to be sold after they had fully grown and through auction, they said.
From the auction earnings are supposed to be distributed to the trees’ beneficiaries (55%), the upazila parishad (30%) and the union parishad (15%).
When contacted over phone, Rashidil Islam, member at the union parishad, reiterated the claim and said the union parishad chairman and secretary had been illegally cutting down the valuable trees for several months now.