Administration seized a dredger in Monumiyaji Ghat area of the Kutubdia Channel in Banshkhali of Chattogram.
According to sources, a gang was illegally extracting sand using dredgers in the area. At that time, the upazila administration conducted a mobile court with the help of the Coast Guard on Friday night.. Two dredgers were seized during the illegal extraction of sand.
Eyewitness sources said sand was being extracted from the Kutubdia Channel with two dredgers from the Monumiyaji Ghat area of Chanuar.
A patrol team from the Khatkhali zone of the Coast Guard arrived at the scene. At that time, the two dredgers were taken to Khatkhali Ghat as they could not show the valid documents containing the permission of the administration to extract sand.
Banshkhali Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Md. Jasim Uddin led a drive in the Khatkhali Ghat area and seized the two dredgers used for sand extraction. At that time, a dredger was fined Tk 2 lakh each, for a total of Tk 4 lakh. Of these, the owner of one dredger paid the fine but the other dredger was seized as it was not paid immediately.
The dredger's boatman Md. Yusuf (45) has been sentenced to 6 months' imprisonment. The convicted Yusuf is the son of Mohammad Mostafa of Dakshin Mangalchar area of Char Fashion upazila of Bhola district.
Coast Guard Commander (CC) of Khatkhali Zone said that AC Land came and conducted a mobile court. The owner of a bulkhead came and took it away after paying the fine. Another was seized for not paying the fine and the fisherman was handed over to the police station. He filed a general diary against the former chairman of Chanowar Rezaul Haque Chowdhury in the sand mining incident after spreading social media. Another source said that permission was taken from the Kutubdia and Banshkhali upazila administrations to mine the sand required for the ongoing development work of the Water Development Board
