Another dies in 'death-pit'

Another stone quarry worker was killed yesterday morning while “illegally” extracting stones in Jaflong area of Gowainghat upazila in Sylhet.

With this, this year's death toll at illegal stone quarries in four upazilas of Sylhet now stands at 21. Last year, 32 people were killed in such quarries.

The dead has been identified as Babul Kha, son of Ashu Kha of Mougati in Netrokona.

Hillol Roy, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Gowainghat Police Station, said a group of stone quarry workers were digging the earth to extract stones illegally in a pit near Londoni Bazar Mosque.

A chunk of earth collapsed on them leaving Ashu dead and another injured, the inspector said. He added that the injured and the deceased had both been sent to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.

On January 2, five stone quarry workers died during stone extraction in the same area. But despite different administrative initiatives, the stone extraction continued, costing lives.

In 2010, a court banned the use of machines in Jaflong and stated that stones may only be collected manually.

After two years, in 2012, another judgement deemed illegal a bridge, which was built by stone traders in Jaflong for smooth transportation of the stones.

The court also asked the authorities concerned to classify a 15km area in Jaflong as Ecologically Critical Areas (ECAs).

In an ECA, stone collection, whether manual or through machines, is banned altogether. Both these judgements were made following writ petitions filed by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyer's Association (BELA).

It took the authorities concerned three years after which a gazette was finally published in 2015 to deem 14.93km area in Jaflong as an ECA. However, three years on, the government is yet to mark the ECA boundaries.