Md. Dulal Hossain Raju, Jaintapur (Sylhet)

Sri Sri Balibari Temple, cropland, betel nut orchards, tea gardens and homesteads are under threat due to illegal stone extraction by cutting the zoom-par at of Balighat Temple in East Jaflong Union No. 3 of Gowainghat Upazila of Sylhet.

Since the autocratic Hasina government fled due to the student-public movement on August 5, there have been widespread looting incidents in various places including the stone quarry in Jaflong.

Stones worth about 100 crore taka were looted from the Jaflong stone quarry alone. Sylhet Environment Department Assistant Director Md. Badrul Huda filed 3 separate cases against more than 50 local Awami League and BNP leaders and activists on charges of involvement in stone looting.

Although almost 6 months have passed since the incident, the accused in the stone looting case are still out of reach for mysterious reasons. Local sources have informed that some influential BNP leaders, who have looted thousands of crores of taka in Jaflong in the past, are continuing these illegal activities from behind the scenes in exchange for a small amount of money. According to news published by various media outlets, under the leadership of expelled Sylhet district BNP leader and former chairman of Gowainghat Upazila Shah Alam Swapan and former member of the district council, BNP leader Md. Rafiqul Islam Shahparan, a festival of illegally cutting soil and extracting stones using a giant machine called a feluder machine is going on in the stone quarry area adjacent to the boundary wall of the Ballapunji Government Primary School in Jaflong, Ballapunji, and the Jaflong Bridge.

Due to illegal stone extraction using Feluda machines, there is a risk that the Sri Sri Balibari Temple, the old tourist spot of Ballaghat, Ballapunji Government Primary School, playground, hundreds of hectares of cropland, tea gardens, Jaflong Bridge, Jaflong Bazar, Nayabasti, Kandubasti village homes and Khasia community, betel nut gardens and surrounding areas will be submerged in the river. Several people from the area who did not want to be named said that the local administration shares a large amount of money with the stone miners, which is why the administration remains silent. As a result, the Awami League and BNP have joined hands to continue the illegal stone extraction work by cutting the soil with Feluda machines in Birdarp.

Although a task force led by the local administration was launched, the team conducting the operation reached the spot before the incident was reported to the stone miners, which is why the illegal stone extraction activity is going on by cutting the soil of the temple in the Ballaghat Jhumpar area. Jaflong, one of the country's tourist centers, is a haven for travelers who are thirsty for the beautiful scenery of nature.

Thousands of tourists from different parts of the country and abroad come to see the natural beauty of this town surrounded by the foothills of the Meghalaya hills and the natural beauty of Jaflong, the daughter of nature. But with the evolution of time, Jaflong, the daughter of nature, is losing its own charm. Today, Jaflong, the daughter of nature, is defeated by the leaders of these stone-throwing groups, the members of the Awami League and BNP. Although the Department of Environment has issued a ban on this matter, no legal action is being taken by the administration. In this way, due to the negligence of the Department of Environment and the negligence of the police, tea gardens are disappearing into the river, the natural environment is being destroyed, and the common people are losing their cropland and habitat. Although there is a provision to obtain permission from the relevant department of the Ministry of Minerals to extract and remove stones from these areas, no one is anywhere near these rules.

Moreover, the Jhumpar area of the temple is a controversial and risky area. In the past, five workers died due to landslides and soil compaction during illegal stone extraction in the area of the Sri Sri Balibari temple.

In the past, i.e. in December 2006, there was a fight between the conflicting people over the extraction of stones from the said land, during which a school student named Liton from Kandubasti village adjacent to the Jhumpar area tragically died. In this regard, Gowainghat Police Station Officer-in-Charge Sarkar Mohammad. Tofail Ahmed said that the police patrolling of the police station is continuing to prevent illegal sand and stone extraction. Sylhet Deputy Commissioner Sher Mohammad. Mahbub Murad said that legal action will be taken against those involved in the looting of natural resources, stones and sand.

Despite government restrictions, stone cutting and quarrying are being carried out freely. Local residents are seeking the attention of higher authorities of the Department of Environment to maintain the beauty of the tourist center of Jaflong.