A contractor has felled over 50 privately owned trees for canal restoration work by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in Patuakhali.
Local residents have expressed disappointment over tree felling in the area.
The land and the trees are owned by a local journalist and Patuakhali correspondent of The Daily Star, Sohrab Hossain.
Sohrab complained that the trees were felled on Monday but he was not informed beforehand of the matter.
Later, Sohrab said he contacted the local LGED office and the divisional forest officer, but they also did not take any action on the matter.
Hailing from Bahalgachia village of Kalikapur Union, Sohrab alleged that the LGED was restoring a canal in the area, and in the process, his trees were felled.
Sohrab further alleged that no other land owners or their trees were affected because of the canal restoration work.
Sohrab Hossain said: "I was not informed beforehand that they would cut down my mahogany trees. At a time when the government is encouraging everyone to plant trees, deforestation in the name of development is unacceptable.”
“I could have cut down my trees in a planned way had they informed me of the matter beforehand,” Sohrab said, adding that he has incurred huge financial losses due to the tree felling.
In this regard, local LGED Engineer Borhan Mehdi said that no law permits government agencies to damage personal properties for development work. Necessary measures will be taken after investigating the matter, he added.
Divisional Forest Officer Safiqul Islam said: “I have heard about it. In this case, if the victim files a written complaint, then a case will be filed against the concerned contractor.”
