Bangladesh railway authority on Monday has suspended Senior Sub Assistant Engineer-2, Amirul Islam, due to absence on the spot while a probe body was visiting the Tigerpass to pahartali area from where AL-BNP syndicate have cut off railway trees.
Mohammad Moqbul Ahmed, GM of Bangladesh Railway (BR) East Zone has confirmed about the suspension to the Dhaka Tribune.
A syndicate of local Awami League and BNP men of Chittagong city’s Ambagan-Pahartoli area has been making a quick buck by selling age-old trees of Bangladesh Railway (BR) East Zone in connivance with railway officials for a long time.
As the matter was brought to the notice, the railway authorities on Sunday formed a three-member committee headed by Divisional Engineer-2 Tarun Kanti Bala to investigate the matter.
Mohammad Moqbul Ahmed, GM of Bangladesh Railway (BR) East Zone said: “The committee went visit to the spot and found absence Senior Sub Assistant Engineer-2, Amirul Islam. Later, they suspended him.”
The AL-BNP syndicate chopped down a good number of age-old trees standing in rows on both sides of a road on the railway land stretching from the port city’s Tigerpass Intersection to Pahartoli Police Bit area.
The members of the syndicate sold those century-old trees in between last Thursday night and Saturday afternoon.
BR (East) sources alleged that felling trees could not have been done without the knowledge of Divisional Engineer-2 Tarun as the area from where trees were cut down fell under his jurisdiction.
Woodcutters said they were cutting trees on the instruction of local Awami League leader and former Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Councillor Mohammad Hossain Hiron, Juba Dal activists Sohel, Arman and several others.
The syndicate using political clouts of both the ruling Awami League and BNP are allegedly involved in cutting trees in the name of facilitating the ongoing road expansion project of the CCC.
BR (East) General Manager Mohammed Moqbul Ahmed said neither the CCC nor anybody took any permission from the railway authorities to cut down the trees.
When contacted, CCC Executive Engineer Saleh Ahmad said he was unaware of the incident.
Meanwhile, the BR officials have recently seized a truck loaded with logs of illegally felled trees. The driver and two labourers – Sunltan Gazi and Sabuj – in the evening handed them over to Khulshi police station.
Senior Sub-Assistant Engineer Amir Hossain of the BR (East) lodged a case with Khulshi police station accusing the two arrestees and six to seven other unidentified people.
After interrogating the duo, Sub-Inspector Lokman Hossain of Khulshi police station, also the investigation officer of the case, said they initially found Shohel and Arman involved in cutting down trees.
BR (East) sources said that railway has 450 acres of land in Ambagan-Pahartoli areas where the AL-BNP syndicate grabbed some land and sold the trees there to which the railway authorities are turning a blind eye.
