Around 100 trees were destroyed as unknown miscreants set fire to the forest at Garjania under Ramu upazila of Cox’s Bazar district yesterday.
Sources said, General Secretary of District Forest and Environment Reserve Parishad and journalist Ibrahim Khalil Mamun planted different kinds of tress including Gamari, Minjiam on a five acres of land at Thoayir Kata area in Garjania union in 2011.
A group of miscreants completely burned down the forest on the day.
After noticing the fire, locals rushed to the spot and doused the blaze.
Locals said group of 5-6 miscreants were seen roaming around in the area on the day and those youths might torch the trees.
Khalil said: “Once the area was surrounded with natural forest. A group of unscrupulous people felled trees illegally a couple of years ago which damaged the environment.”
“During the time of crisis, I took the initiative to plant hundreds of trees on five acres of land in 2011. Following me, others also planted trees,” he added,
Khalil said legal actions would be taken in this regard.
Divisional Officer of Cox’s Bazar (north) Forest Department- Shah-e-Alam said: “The number of natural forests has been reducing not only in Garjania but also in other areas of Cox’s Bazar.”