Sand is being extracted illegally from the river Punurbhaba in Sadar upazila of the district day and night, causing a huge loss of revenue for the state exchequer.
There are allegations that a group is lifting sand illegally from the dried up riverbed at Gosaipur (behind City Park) in Dinajpur Sadar Upazila without taking lease from the authorities concerned.
A concrete room has been found for selling sand at the spot of sand extraction. This correspondent found a man giving receipt for sand sale and tried to know the name of the leaseholder. But the man could not tell the name.
However, a trolley driver, wishing not to be named, said one Kafil Basak of Suihori Ashrampara area in Dinajpur along with other people is extracting sand illegally from the river and earning a huge amount of money by selling it. Sources in the Deputy Commissioner’s office said they have not leased out balumahal of the river Punurbhaba in Sadar upazila to anyone. Water Development Board Dinajpur Executive Engineer Faruk Ahmed said Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) carried out dredging work in the river. “We [Water Development Board] are not doing any dredging work or lifting sand using excavator. Lifting sand without the government permission is a punishable offence. We will take necessary legal action if we get any written complaint about the matter,” he said. This correspondent tried to contact the official concerned of BIWTA for Dinajpur district through the BIWTA hotline number (16113) but no one received phone there.
Dinajpur additional deputy commissioner (overall) and additional deputy commissioner (development and human resources management) Debashis Chowdhury said the Upazila Nirbahi Officer is responsible for looking after the balumahal and is the president of it. If sand is removed after dredging work, then extraction of sand using excavator is a punishable offence, he said, adding that legal action will be taken against them after investigation.
