18 big roadside trees looted in Gaibandha
Criminals remove logs of the felled trees by rickshaw vans in broad daylight in Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha.Photo: STAR
Criminals backed by local political leaders are looting trees beside Jamalpur-Gopalpur road in Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha in broad daylight. During last three days, a gang of timber lifters felled 18 big roadside trees and took away the trunks and logs on pushcarts and rickshaw vans, said local people. Following protest from locals, police seized some of the logs from looters. During this correspondent's visit to the area yesterday, former executive director of defunct NGO Gudsek Zillur Rahman said, "In 1995 we had planted about 12,000 saplings of eucalyptus, mahogany, rain tree, and epil epil beside different roads of the union under the tree plantation programme of forest department. Over 8,000 of the saplings have survived so far." "After the NGO was closed following internal disagreement in 1999, a section of people started grabbing roadside trees in the name of defunct organisation. During the last Awami League rule, a leader of Jamalpur union Awami League took permission from the Social Welfare Department by forming a committee of NGO Gudsek, which exists in name only. He and his associates have been grabbing properties including roadside trees," Zillur said. This correspondent could not contact the said AL leader despite repeated attempts over cell phone. "There was a contract with NGO Gudsek that poor beneficiaries, who are employed to look after the plants, will get 60 percent price of the trees, the NGO will get 20 percent while the remaining 20 percent will go to local union parishad. Neither the union parishad nor the beneficiaries had received the percentage of money in the past. I do not know what is happening now," said Nuruzzaman, chairman of Jamalpur union parishad. "NGO Gudsek is now virtually non-existent, except in papers. But some people are trying to revive the defunct organisation," said Upazila Social Welfare Officer Shariful Islam. Hasan Imam, officer-in-charge of Sadullapur Police Station, said they have seized some logs of the felled down trees in the area as per order of the upazila nirbahi officer and legal step will be taken as soon as the case is filed. Several local people have alleged that the tree looters are creating pressure to release the seized logs from police custody.
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