Hills razed for industry

The authorities of Build-Aid Readymix Concrete Limited have ravaged several hills in Chattogram to build a factory, that too without getting permission from the environment ministry. Suffice to say, this may lead to serious environmental harm.

The concrete-mixing factory of the company, whose chairperson is Shirin Ahmed, wife of late Awami League politician and lawmaker Moslem Uddin Ahmed, is being constructed on an acre of hilly land near Bayezid Link Road in Sitakunda upazila's Fouzdarhat area.

Officials of the Department of Environment (DoE) confirmed that they visited the area and found evidence of hill cutting.

Ashraf Uddin, assistant director of DoE's Chattogram office, submitted a report on the hill cutting to the department's higher authority last year. This correspondent obtained a copy of the report.

According to the report, during the factory's construction, 9 lakh cubic feet of hill area has been cut, in violation of Bangladesh Environment Preservation Act-1995.

The punishment for breaking the relevant law is up to two years' imprisonment or Tk 2 lakh fine, or both for the first time. For the second time, it is up to 10 years' imprisonment or Tk 10 lakh fine or both.

During a visit to the area, this correspondent found that hills are surrounded by a fence. The company authorities have cut a large part of the hills. Some locals, requesting anonymity, said the company authorities have built the structure by cutting the hills.

Mofidul Alam, director of DoE's Chattogram region, told The Daily Star, "We have fined the company Tk 5 lakh for violating the environment preservation act."

Chairperson Shirin Ahmad declined to comment on the matter.

Earlier, a mobile court headed by Ashraful Alam, assistant commissioner (land) of Sitakunda upazila, fined the authorities of the factory Tk 2 lakh for the same reason.

Ashraful told this newspaper, "Acting on a tip-off, we found evidence of hill cutting there and seized various equipment, including excavators, and fined the landowner."

Meanwhile, experts fear that if hill cutting carries on like this, the environment of the area would be in danger.

Mohammad Kamal Hossain, former professor of Institute of Forestry and Environmental Science at Chittagong University, said the ecological balance of the area will be disturbed, and wildlife living in those hills will be displaced.

According to data from Bangladesh Environment Forum, 120 hills disappeared from Chattogram city in four decades. In 1976, there were 32.37 square kilometres of hills in the city, and that decreased to 14.02 square km in 2008.

The data showed that there were 200 hills in the city 40 years ago, and 60 percent of those have disappeared now.