Cutting hill without permission from the appropriate authorities is a punishable offence. We hear, more often than not, the authorities concerned saying that its flagship policy is not to disturb nature or environment through launching any project. But we are shocked by the recent media reports revealing how illegal razing of hills continues across the country, stripping of its natural defences and ecological balance. State agencies and private sector influential quarters alike are cutting hills in flagrant violations of the Bangladesh Environment conservation Act, 1995. A recent report reveals that the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) razed nine hills and removed over 10.14 lakh cubic feet of soil in the Ramgarh-Sitakunda reserve forest to expand a 38 km road, without obtaining the environmental clearance. By the time the Department of Environment (DOE) intervened, 40 pc of the Tk 1,1 o7crore project was already complete. The expansion of the road aims to ease the transport of goods from Chattogram port to India via the Ramgarh land port to Khagrachhari. But it is being done at the cost of a part of the forest that shelters more than 120 species of birds and 25 species of mammals. It clearly indicates the gap of communication and coordination between government agencies involved in such projects. What w want to say , in brief, is that our development work must be carefully balanced with conservation of nature as our country’s natural beauty and biodiversity are irreplaceable assets and we cannot afford to sacrifice them indiscriminately for infrastructural gains.
Similar incident of flouting law was found in Ukhiya of Cox’s Bazar, where the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) allegedly razed several hills for roadwork and in Bandarban, where hill cutting near a primary school endangered students and residents alike. According to a media report, rampant hill cutting was done across Sylhet, with 45 percent of hills in the district now fully or partially razed. According to another report, Chattogram’s Rupashi Hill was cut and divided into plots, sold for up to Tk30 lakh per katha.
The grievous results from such illegal activities include severe soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, disrupted rainfall patterns,frequent landslides claiming lot of lives .These activities are linked to administrative inaction, collapse of local enforcement of law, and bureaucratic loopholes for which influential quarters have found hill cutting a profitable business with impunity. The crisis reflects not only environmental degradation but also an unholy nexus of power, profit and impunity.
Bangladesh must treat hill conservation as a national priority. To stop hill cutting mere legal prohibitions will not do. The absence of clear coordination exposes the systemic frailties that perpetuates in our project planning must be done away with. The DOE and local administration must halt all ongoing hill razing, prosecute violators of law, restore damaged sites through reforestation, and realize environmental compensation from the violators of law. Environmental clearance must be made mandatory. Inter-agency coordination and exemplary punishment for offenders, and strict enforcement of law are indispensable to stop hill cutting to protect environment.
