A large number of trees belonging to the social forestry programme in Katabari union of Gobindaganj upazila in Gaibandha were felled and sold at a nominal price by the UP chairman there, flouting the regulations.
Sources said Katabari UP Chairman Zobaer Hasan Mohammad Shafiq Mahmud owns a sawmill and one Jahangir Alam supplies felled trees to his mill regularly. According to the sources, Zobaer sold the trees to Jahangir, though, when contacted, Jahangir denied such allegations.
Several people from the union made written complaints to the offices of district commissioner and UNO on September 14, but felling of trees was not stopped.
Sources from the Ministry of Environment and Forest said any proposal for selling trees grown under social forestry programme must be approved by a committee of union parishad officials, and sent to the upazila parishad, and if the trees were worth more than Tk5 lakh, the UNO must send the proposal to the district commissioner for his approval.
Md Mokhlesur Rahman, assistant director of the local government section under the district administration, said they had received a complaint regarding irregularities in selling trees and were preparing to take legal action regarding the issue.
Union parishad member Abul Kalam told the Dhaka Tribune that the chairman informed them after selling those trees and when they asked the chairman why he sold them for such a low price, he refused to make any comment on the matter.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mamun-ul-Hasan said he received a proposal of selling trees from that union parishad, and held a meeting regarding the issue, but the UP chairman felled the trees before the proposal was sent to the district commissioner's office.
Katabari UP Chairman Zobaer Hasan Mohammad Shafiq Mahmud told the Dhaka Tribune that the number of trees was not as it was supposed to be, because many of the trees were felled by the thieves.
