Forestland given away for illegal sand lifting

In a move that violates laws, the Chattogram district administration has given permission to a foreign contractor to lift sand from a portion of the Ramgarh-Sitakunda reserve forest in Chattogram's Jiltali area for a road widening project.

Ashoka Buildcon Limited, an Indian firm, can now lift 29,000 cubic feet (cft) of sand from 6.8 acres of land of the 84,000-acre reserve forest, according to an agreement document seen by The Daily Star.

The firm was hired by the Roads and Highways Department to implement the 38km Baraiyerhat-Heanko-Ramgarh road widening project.

The Indo-Bangla Connecting Road project, which was approved by the Ecnec in August 2020, is being financed jointly by Bangladesh and India.

After getting permission from the district administration in July, the contractor has even deposited Tk 87 lakh with the government as royalty to start the lifting work.

However, according to the Balu Mohal O Mati Bebosthapona Ain (Sand Fields and Soil Management Act)-2010, sand lifting inside a forest is against the law.

As per section 26 of the Forest Act, nothing can be removed from a forest without permission from the forest department.

The proposed land for lifting sand was recorded as part of the reserve forest in a Calcutta gazette issued in 1893 by the Assam-Bengal Forest Department.

It was also recorded as forestland in BS (Bangladesh Survey) on No-1 Khatiyan in the Forest Department's name on behalf of Bangladesh government.

The Ramgarh-Sitakunda forest is home to 25 species of mammals, 123 species of birds, eight species of reptiles and 25 species of trees, according to the documents of the Chattogram North Forest Division.

The agreement handing over the land for sand extraction was signed by Abul Bashar Md Fakruzzaman, former deputy commissioner of Chattogram, on behalf of the district administration in July.

He, however, claimed he was not aware it was a reserve forest.

"I gave permission [signed the agreement] based on field inspection reports by several state agencies, including the environment department [DoE]. Maybe they overlooked the land ownership matter."

Meanwhile on October 17, the forest department wrote to the deputy commissioner of Chattogram, demanding the cancellation of the permission.

Signed by SM Khaiser, divisional officer of Chattogram North Forest Division, termed the permission "deplorable" and in violation of the Forest Act.

Speaking to The Daily Star, he said, "The permission is totally illegal as we have been nurturing this land for years and have been giving revenue to the government. It's our asset. We've decided to take measures against the permission [given to extract sand from the forest]."

The same day, the forest department also sent a letter to the director of the DoE (Chattogram region), demanding a cancellation of the DoE's inspection report saying it was defective and illegal. 

"The DoE gave a false inspection report. We've sent a letter to them to cancel it," said SM Khaiser.

DOE REPORT

Ashraf Uddin, a research officer of Chattogram DoE, prepared the report after inspecting the proposed spot in Jiltali area under Karerhat forest office in December last year.

According the report, the proposed land has an open space and Null (crops) land on the east and west sides.

However, this correspondent visited the spot three times in the past five months and saw that the site has only a small canal and is covered in hills and forest.

Abul Hashem, a 55-year-old resident of the area, told this newspaper that a hill there was razed by sand lifters and that was when the canal was created.  

This newspaper saw a copy of the DoE report, which also overlooked the ownership of the land.

Contacted, Ashraf Uddin said he was not given any instructions to find out about the ownership of the land.

Asked why the hills and forests were not mentioned in the report, he dodged the question and said he was under pressure to file the report soon.

'GOT PERMISSION LEGALLY'

In the contract, the district administration termed the proposed spot  "Koylamukhi Sand Field" and leased it out to Ashoka Buildcon Limited on 20 conditions on July 27.

Afsar Uddin, a project engineer, dealt with the sand lifting issue with the state agency on behalf of the firm and was also seen with the DoE team during their visit to the spot.

"We had applied following legal procedures. We got the permission [for sand extraction] after fulfilling the 20 conditions and paying revenue to the government," he told The Daily Star on October 18.

A FOREST ATTACKED AGAIN

The permission to lift sand from the reserve forest came just months after the forest department handed over 90 acres of the forestland to the Roads and Highways Department for the project.

According to an estimate by the forest department, around 4,630 matured trees had to be felled; 18,000 cubic metres of soil had to be removed, and 15,500 saplings had to be transferred for the project.

The handing over process drew flak from environmentalists and experts in February this year.

SM Khaiser said, "We already wrote to the district administration to cancel the permission to extract sand. If the problem is not solved internally, we'll take the matter to court."

Kamal Hossain, a former professor of the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Science at Chittagong University, has researched this forest for over a decade and published five papers on it.

He termed Ramgarh-Sitakunda one of the richest hill-based reserve forests with a vast variety of wildlife and trees.

"Sand extraction disturbs ecosystems, leading to habitat loss and a decline in biodiversity as it is a necessary element in a forest."

He warned of irreparable damages to the forest and impairment of the biodiversity if sand would be extracted from there.