Ramgarh-Sitakunda Reserve Forest: Widening road at the expense of over 4,000 trees
The Forest Department has decided to hand over a portion of Chattogram's Ramgarh-Sitakunda reserve forest to the Roads and Highways Department for a road-widening project.
The RHD has already begun widening the road, from Baraiyarhat to Ramgarh, adjacent to the forest, by cutting down hills and trees after verbal approval from the Forest Department.
According to project documents, the 38km road will be widened from 18ft to 38ft, while there will be constructions of nine bridges and 23 culverts -- all at a cost of Tk 1,107 crore.
Project officials said it is being done to ease the transport of goods from the Chattogram port to neighbouring countries via the newly inaugurated Ramgarh land port in Khagrachhari.
Meanwhile, the Forest Department has estimated that around 4,630 matured trees will have to be felled, 18,000 cubic metres of soil will have to be removed, and 15,500 saplings have to be transferred elsewhere – for the project.
Chief Forest Conservator Md Amir Hossain Chowdhury on December 21 last year had sent a letter to the divisional forest officer of Chattogram North Forest Division with the instruction to handover 90 acres to the RHD after taking a compensation of Tk 26.10 crore.
Contacted, SM Khaiser, the divisional forest officer, said, "We have recommended the handover as per instructions from the Prime Minister's Office. We've not yet officially handed it over as the RHD hasn't paid the compensation money yet."
However, visiting the area recently, this correspondent saw that workers were already removing soil to level the road. Several trees, planted under an afforestation project, were chopped down on both sides of the existing road while a few hills were also seen cut.
"As the instructions were from the high-ups, we can't obstruct the construction work," said Tarikur Rahman, range officer of the Karerhat forest office.
The Ramgarh-Sitakunda reserve forest is home to 25 species of mammals, 123 species of birds, eight species of reptiles and 25 species of trees, according to the Forest Department.
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.
"The existing road, which is already a safe route for timber smuggling, was also constructed on forestland many years ago. If it is widened, the forest will cease to exist in the future. The RHD needs to find an alternative route without destroying this reserve forest."
He added that forests in Chattogram have been suffering for long, as more than 22,500 acres were earlier razed by the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority to set up the country's largest economic zone in Mirsarai.
Meanwhile, another 13,130 acres of forestland have already been occupied by encroachers, said a report of the Chattogram North Forest Division.
Environmentalists fear this project will be an additional blow to the fast-depleting forestlands of Chattogram.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Sharif Jamil, member-secretary of Dhara, an environmental organisation, said, "The government is leasing out the forestland [for development projects], violating its commitment at COP-26 to stop deforestation by 2030."
Contacted, Pintu Chakma, project manager and executive engineer of Chattogram RHD, said, "We are being given 90 acres of the land from the Forest Department though we wanted 174 acres to widen the road.
"We have no other alternative but to use this forestland for the project. However, we will be careful …."
Contacted, Bipul Krishna Das, forest conservator of Chattogram region, said, "We agreed to hand over the 90 acres on condition that it be used only to widen the road. The RHD will never have the ownership of this land.
"We had initially rejected their application for permission to use this forestland. However, higher officials later requested us to give it as the road is meant to be used for international trade."