Sylhet Correspondent:

An organised gang has been actively involved in illegal extraction of stones from the remote reserved site at Sharpin Tila on the Companiganj border for a long time causing much harm to the local environment and ecology.

The hillocks here are being almost levelled due to the stone lifting by the group enjoying political clout with the connivance of a section of law enforcement agency members.

Although many of the perpetrators have already been accused in cases, the wrongdoing has still been going on unabated as stones worth lakhs of taka are being plundered by digging holes and the practice has become an open secret.

The Sharpin Tila waqf estate which spreads over 137.50 acres area was once a unique site with full of high hillocks and trees on plot (dag 94) at Chikadohor Mouja of Companiganj. The looters are engaged in extracting stones from the big holes, ditched on the site.

The group is active in nearby Barainpur, Chikadohor, Jaliarpar, Parua etc areas, said sources in the Department of Environment (DoE) and others.

A case was filed by the DoE on January 26 this year alleging that some influential people are involved in looting stones from the site.

Some of them were also accused in a case for looting stones worth Tk2.0 billion during the past regime too. Even after being accused in the cases filed by the DoE, the people are still continuing the misdeed allegedly through managing the local administration authorities.

Normally, stones are taken away through tractors. During a visit to the site, it was seen that some policemen realising Tk 500 bribe were allowing each of the tractors to load stones from in front of the temporary check post while some people of Islampur west area were collecting same amount of stones in the name of BGB from each of the stone ditches.

In the same way lawmen on duty near the Chikadohor mosque were collecting Tk 300 from each of the tractors allowing extraction of stones.

Some people in the name of Rasha Bahini were collecting Tk 200 from each tractor allowing extraction of stones.

On the other hand, some people were collecting Tk 500 from each tractor from collecting stones in the name of Chikadohir Mosque.

Some BNP men and their associates are patronising illegal stone extraction from Sharpin Tila area taking the chance of a changed political situation.

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Associating (BELA) Sylhet regional coordinator Shah Shaheda said now-a-day environment activists are campaigning against the stone looters.

They (stone looters) are committing the misdeed taking support from political goons and openly ignoring court orders, she added.

However, the officer-in-charge of Companiganj PS Ujayer Al

Mahmud denied the allegations, saying “We got information of some sporadic incidents. We would look into the matter soon.”

Contacted, Director of the DoE, Sylhet Ferdous Anwar told this correspondent ‘We are trying our best to stop them. Drives are ongoing too. Already we have filed a case against 40 people while filing of some more cases is under process.”