Hostage to sand lifters

Influential and politically connected traders are illegally dredging the Dhaleshwari in Tangail and locals fear this could result in losing their properties to river erosion. 

The Dhaleshwari, a tributary of the Jamuna, flows through Tangail sadar and the traders are using powerful dredging machines to lift sand near Porabari Bazar, putting settlements including a market, a crematorium, and homesteads under risk, locals said.

They told this correspondent that traders were scooping out mud from the river bank at Basaider char. The Charabari-Torabganj bridge might be devoured if erosion hits the area.

The villagers said they could not stop the illegal activity as most of the perpetrators had political connections.

On occasions, mobile courts of the local administration conducts raid and burns sand lifting equipment but things get back to square one within a few days, they said.

During a spot visit, The Daily Star correspondent saw sand being extracted and several trucks taking the sand away in Porabari. The sand trader there, Sumon Dewan, a former chairman of a union parishad, claimed that he owned the land from which he was extracting sand.

According to Sand Fields and Soil Management Act, 2010, extracting sand from open space and river beds for commercial purposes is a punishable offence.

Citing the law, Kawsar Ahmed, an environment activist, said, “Defying the law, sand traders had been dredging the river over the last few years. This puts a number of cropland, bridges, and roads in Porabari under risk of erosion.”

In the past, vast tracts of cropland in this area went under the river due to unplanned sand lifting, added the activist.

Despite locals' complaints made to the local administration and the land office, the illegal lifting goes on unabated, Kawsar asserted.

Contacted, Sukhomay Sarkar, assistant commissioner (land) in Tangail, said he had received similar complaints in the past and raids were conducted then.

“We will take legal steps again after investigation. I have received some verbal complaints.”

The extracted sand is piled up and then transported via trucks, said locals.

The Daily Star correspondent talked to a number of truckers who said one truck load of sand is sold for Tk 700 while one tractor trailer load for Tk 400.

Sands loaded on a tipper truck costs Tk 2,000, they said.