The High Court in the Moulvibazar Sadar Upazila Lauraga Reserve Forest Mouza located in the 886-acre rainforest eco park illegal tree cutting, hill cutting, road construction and waste dumping to protect the defendants.
The court has issued a rule asking to know whether it will happen or not. The court also asked the mayor to take legal action against Moulvibazar Municipality (Defendant No. 8) for destroying the eco-park and seeking compensation and why the defendants should not be instructed to protect the park in the public interest. At the same time, the court imposed a six-month interim ban on dumping of garbage in Eco Park by Moulvibazar Municipality.
A bench of the High Court Division comprising Justice JBM Hasan and Justice Rajik-al-Jalil issued the rule and order at the end of the preliminary hearing of a public interest litigation (No. 12244/2021) filed by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).
It is to be mentioned that in Sadar upazila of Moulvibazar district, in Lauraga reserve forest mouza, there is a year-round protected forest. Its total area is 886 acres. In 1916, the government of Bangladesh issued a circular declaring the forest a protected forest. Recently, illustrated reports were published in various national dailies of the country to the effect that Moulvibazar Municipality is dumping garbage in the place of Eco Park.
In addition, the forest has been cleared by cutting the mound of forest adjacent to Moulvibazar Stadium to widen the road to facilitate garbage transportation. Due to the dumping of garbage and plastic waste in the city, the forest environment is being polluted and spreading foul smell which has caused severe damage to the forest, wildlife, livestock and public health.
Despite the written objections of the forest department, the illegal dumping of garbage by the mayor of the forest area is a form of forcible occupation. In this case, the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) has demanded to remove all kinds of garbage and plastic waste, stop waste dumping activities, stop cutting down mounds and afforestation with native species of trees in the cut areas and fix the amount of damage for such anti-environmental work. Filed.
Barrister Mohammad Ashraf Ali conducted the case on behalf of BELA. The case was handled by Deputy Attorney General Mr. Tushar Kanti Roy on behalf of the state.
