A case has been filed in connection to the cutting of about 20,000 aquatic trees of various species including Hijal-Karach from the Malam Beel area of Hakaluki Haor in Moulvibazar's Baralekha.
The lawsuits have been filed under the Environment Conservation Act and the Ecologically Critical Areas Management Rules. The cutting of the trees caused huge risk for the biodiversity of the Haor area.
Meanwhile, Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA) has made a five-point recommendation in this regard, including the formation of a judicial inquiry committee into the incident.
POBA organised an online discussion meeting on Tuesday, 11 am demanding a proper investigation and trial of the incident.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Jasim Uddin, Department of Botany of Dhaka University, journalista Akmal Hossain Nipu, Ripon Dey, Tapan Kumar Das and others participated in the discussion meeting chaired by POBA Chairman Abu Naser Khan.
The speakers at the time said that about 20,000 trees were cut down in Hakaluki Haor. This is a horrible picture when the whole world today is worried about natural disasters due to climate change. They said they strongly condemn it and demand exemplary punishment by bringing those responsible to justice.
They added that, “Those who have taken the lease of Malam Beel should have to pay compensation for this as they violated the terms of the lease. Their lease should be revoked and exemplary punishment should be given to them. The lease system of the Haor should be canceled altogether”.
The inspector of the Moulvibazar office of the Department of Environment (DoE) Md Nazrul Islam filed the case naming seven accused with the Baralekha police station on Tuesday night.
15 to 20 unnamed accused have been mentioned in the case. Officer-in-charge (OC) of Baralekha Police Station Jahangir Hossain Sardar confirmed the news.
The accused in the case are identified as Maktadir Ali, son of late Aqaddas Ali, Mashaeed Ali, son of late Amruz Ali, Riaz Ali, son of late Joynal Uddin, Suruj Ali, son of the late Moyab Ali of Kazirband village and Joynal Uddin, son of Sufian Ahmed of Monadi village under Barni Union of Moulvibazar Upazila, According to the case statement, Abdul Monaf, a member of Hakaluki Jagarani ECA Management Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited and a guard at Malam Beel Forestry Area, lodged a complaint with the DoE on Sunday.
The complaint said about trees of various species both naturally grown and planted by DoE on about 12 Bighas of Khas land on the south-east side of Malam Beel in Hakaluki Haor have been cut down. It added that the damage to the ecologically critical area has been done for the construction of the Malam Beel dam and for preparing farmland.
Later, plaintiff Abdul Monaf, Halla Forest Bit Officer Sumon Biswas and members of the Hakaluki ECA Management Multipurpose Cooperative Society visited the spot on Monday and found that about 15,000 to 20,000 trees of different species, including Hijal, Karach etc that were about 10 to 15 feet tall, have been cut down.
Assistant Director of Moulvibazar DoE Md Badrul Huda said a case has been filed with the Baralekha police station in this regard. If anyone else is found involved in the crime during investigation, they will be included in the charge sheet.
Notably, the government of Bangladesh declared an area of 383 hectares of the Hakaluki Haor as an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) and imposed clear restrictions according to Environment Conservation Act-1995.
To protect the ECA area the government issued Environmentally Critical Areas Management Rules in 2016. The DoE undertook afforestation activities in Hakaluki Haor to preserve the biodiversity of the ECA area and to make it suitable for the habitat of fish, aquatic animals and birds. Moreover, damaging the ECA area in any way has been banned as well.
The statement further said that the accused violated the restrictions imposed in the ECA area and caused damage to the aquatic sanctuaries of Hakaluki Haor by cutting down the aquatic trees.
By doing so, they have violated sub-section 4 of section 5 of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act-1995 (amended in 2010) and the provisions of the Ecologically Critical Areas Management Rules-2016, which is a punishable offense.
