An influential local group is allegedly trying to occupy a pond on about 4 acres of land owned by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in Alekharchar area under Cumilla Sadar Upazila beside the Dhaka-Chattogram highway.
The pond is located in Alekharchar area under Durgapur North Union in the Upazila, along the four lane Dhaka-Chattogram highway, near Mainamati Highway Crossing Police Station on the east side of the highway. The local influential group is trying to occupy the pond gradually, filling it with soil.
According to sources, officially there is a government ban on filling any reservoir or pond without a permission from the Department of Environment (DoE). Therefore, owners of a pond or water body have to apply to the DoE before filling the pond or water body. Only after getting the permit, they can start the process.
According to local sources, there is a huge pond owned by RHD in the Alekharchar Mouza area. For a long time, drivers of freight trucks and covered van plying on the highway have been cleaning their vehicles and local farmers are irrigating their lands with the water of the pond. Even Fire Service vehicles collect water from the pond in case of any fire incidence.
However, due to the high value of the lands along the highway, an influential family of Alekharchar area started filling the pond using various techniques for some time now. To this end, they have been dumping several trucks of soil in the pond occasionally.
Some locals seeking anonymity said that the family first started dumping soil on a piece of land owned by them on the east side of the pond and later started filling the pond itself. At present, they are working day and night to fill the pond by bringing soil from the nearby Gumti River Char whenever possible. More than half of the pond has already been filled, they added.
Local residents have complained to Cumilla RHD and DoE offices several times but still could not stop the grabbing of the pond as the influential family has become desperate to take possession of the pond. Even the locals set arbitration council several times to prevent the filling up, where the influential family claimed the ownership of the pond.
The locals have asked assistance from the authorities concerned to save the pond for the benefits of the common people.
