Tangail Correspondent

Illegal brick kilns are rampant as hilly forests are being cut indiscriminately in the Ajgana, Gorai, Tarafpur, Latifpur and Bastail union of Mirzapur upazila in Tangail imposing adverse impact on nature and the environment.

Some groups of influential circles are razing forests mostly with Gazari trees and cutting the hilly lands to sell them to the illegal brick kilns.

Locals said some mindless earth traders are cutting the red soil of the hills with excavator machines in the dark of night and selling it to the brick kilns. Some hills are dug deep and some remained flat after excavation which has been going on for the past several years. Soil-laden trucks dominated the rural and regional roads at night, they said.

As a result, the regional roads of the upazila are becoming unusable, locals alleged. Apart from that, the environment and biodiversity of the hilly areas are under threat due to the indiscriminate cutting of Gazari trees and the red soil of the hills.

After visiting the spot, the Daily Sun correspondent saw that Aminur Rahman of Ajgana union, former UP member of Ward no 2 Ashraf Akand, Atwar, Monir, Awal Sikdar, Sujan, Shahidul in Nayapara area of Tarafpur union, Julhas Mia in Rakher Chala Nayapara area, Mosharf Hossain of Gokai Syedpur area, were cutting the soil of Moncher hill in Shirghata, Gajeshwari and Patharghata areas.

Apart from this, Rokan Mia of Sebarmath area of Bastail union, Abid Sikder, the former convenor of the Bastail union Chhatra League, Awal Sikder, Shahidul Dewan were also cutting the hilly lands in the Abirampur area. They are selling these soils to commercial brick kilns.

Several hilly forests lost their existence in the villages of Ajgana, Bastail and Tarafpur unions in the upazila. In some places, residents were seen busy building houses on the flat land.

A few houses were built for living on the hills and rural electricity poles were installed in vulnerable conditions that can cause accidents during monsoon season. Roadside trees and houses were covered in dust as a huge number of soil-laden trucks plied roads.

A soil trader Julhas Mia said, “The land owner has cut down the Gazari trees of the hills. I have only bought the soil.”

Tarafpur Union Parishad Chairman Aziz Reza said “Not only the environment is being harmed by cutting trees and hills. Homes are also under threat. Apart from this, heavy damage is caused to the roads due to the soil being carried by heavy trucks.”

Shahinur Rahman, ranger of Bastail Forest Range said, “We can’t interfere if owners of private hilly lands permit cutting of trees and soil. But we can take legal action if the trees are transported illegally.”

Inspector in charge of Bastail police out-post, Humayun Kabir said, “We are not aware of the matter of cutting hilly forests. If we receive reports of suspicious transport movement, we will conduct drives.”

Meanwhile, multiple attempts to contact Zamir Uddin, deputy director of Environment Department Tangail, on his mobile phone failed.

Mirzapur Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Md Masudur Rahman said, “It is completely forbidden to cut the red soil of the hills. If anyone cuts the red soil of the hill, legal action will be taken against them.”