Two people have been arrested on charges of cutting down hills to construct a building in Chittagong’s Khulshi.
Police arrested construction workers Mohammad Akhtar Hossain, 20, and Mohammad Russell, 20, on Friday night,said Khulshi Police OC Mohammad Shahinuzzaman.
According to the police officer, the Department of Environment (DoE) filed a case with Khulshi Police against four people on Friday.
The hills were being razed reportedly for the construction of a five-storey building of the government’s Education Engineering Department in the metropolitan area.
The OC said that the environment department filed the case against Mohsin Haider, the owner of Messrs Mohsin & Brothers, and sub-contractor Md Shafiq, Akhtar Hossain and Mohammad Russell.
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Department of Environment Chittagong Metro Deputy Director Mia Mahmudul Haque said a team from the department recently visited the area after receiving complaints that hills were being razed in the Khulshi.
The case was filed after the inspectors found the allegations to be true and Akhtar and Russell were arrested in a raid later that night.
Previously on Wednesday, the Department of Environment fined AK Khan Group of Companies and three individuals a total of over Tk700,000 for leveling hills in Khulshi.
AK Khan Company was fined Tk92,500 for levelling 370 square feet of hills in the VIP housing area while Syed Kudrat-e-Khoda was fined Tk4.44 lakh and Shahjahan Haider Chowdhury was fined Tk1.87 lakh for razing 1,776 square feet of hills in the same area.
Another person named Mohammad Hossain Hiron was also fined Tk50,000 for constructing a multi-storey building without clearance from the department.