The prison authorities have felled at least 561 trees, many of those a hundred year old, at an orchard of Rajshahi Central Jail in the city’s Sipaipara area.

The trees have been being felled at the orchard behind Rajshahi Central Jail since last four or five days, reports our Rajshahi staff correspondent.

While talking to The Daily Star's correspondent ornithologists and environmentalists said, felling of huge number of trees would leave an impact on the environment and varieties of birds including parakeets, storks and herons that nested on the trees over the years.

“Felling of such a huge number of old trees will certainly leave an impact on the environment,” Md Ashrafuzzman, divisional director of Department of Environment (DOE), told The Daily Star.

The jail authorities has ordered a contractor belonging to Jubo League for felling the trees, mostly Koroi, Mehogony, Debdaru and tamarind, as soon as possible to make room for constructing a prisons training academy.

In last few couple of days, more than half of a hundred of the contractor’s labourers felled most of the trees almost vacating the orchard, it was seen during visiting the spot.

The contractor, Md Sumon said he purchased the 561 trees put on auction by the jail authorities at Tk 19 lakh.

“Felling the hundred-year-old trees will be an irreparable loss. One thousand of newly planted trees cannot compensate for felling of just a hundred-year-old tree,” eminent ornithologist Onu Tareq said.

The orchard was one of the few beauties of the city where people loved travelling in their leisure. Three kinds of parakeets -- red breasted, rose-ringed, and plum headed, Asian open bill stork and black-crowned night heron nested at the trees.

“It was a real beauty to watch on the parakeets when they flew in flocks across the Padma River, and eat maize in the crop fields in the river chars,” Onu said.

Prison authorities have decided to establish the country’s first ever prisons training academy in Rajshahi and the jail authorities provided the land for building the academy, Altab Hossain, Deputy Inspector General of prisons in Rajshahi division said.

As there was an orchard at the land, the jail authorities took opinion from the forest department and the concerned district committee for protecting the environment, he said.

When contacted, Ahmed Niamur Rahman, forest officer of Rajshahi division, said, the forest officials evaluated the trees and fixed its prices. “We allowed it considering the development initiative”.

Onu Tareq said, the explanations of the prison authorities are lame. “It is not believable that they don’t find any other place except the orchard for establishing the academy. They are doing it only for money of the trees.”

The jail authorities, however, heard about the city people’s protests in social media. “If the city people do not want establishment of the academy at the selected spot, they would shift it to Mymensingh,” the DIG of prisons Altab Hossain said.