Kurigram Correspondent: A madrasa teacher has been accused of stealing and cutting down valuable government live trees on the side of the road.
This incident of tree cutting took place last Monday (January 23) near the bridge built over the Gangaramnala on the official road from Satchipur of Dharani Bari Union of Ulipur Upazila of Kurigram District to Janjaigir. The Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) investigated the incident through the Forest Officer and confirmed that legal action was taken.
Eyewitnesses said that an old Raintree Karai tree on the government road near Gangaram Nala was alive for a long time. Hundreds of pedestrians used to rest there during the unseasonably hot weather.
Last Monday morning, in the dark environment of dense fog, the teacher of Kamal Khamar Fazil (Degree) Madrasa, Mohammad Altaf Hossain, with the help of several kathurias, suddenly cut down the huge tree alive without the knowledge of the local people. According to local timber traders, the estimated value of the cut tree will be Tk 25-30 thousand.
Several local eyewitnesses, who did not want to be named, told this reporter that madrasa teacher Altaf Hossain, along with his son, was constantly present at the scene for a long time and cut the huge tree into sections of different sizes and quickly sent the trunk to a sawmill in Durgapur. Then the teacher quickly removed the tree sap from the ground to erase the signs of theft.
Several related sources said that according to the government policy, if there is a need to cut any living tree in the place under government control, it is mandatory to take the permission of the concerned ministry. Not only that, if dead and uprooted government trees are cut without the permission of the concerned department, it will be considered as theft, he said.
No government policy was followed in cutting the tree at this entry on the road to Jan Jaigir of Dharanibari Union. A local man named Abu Bakkar Siddique said that the master who cut the tree was wrong, he considered the land on the side of the road as his own tree.
If it is possible to contact the madrasa teacher Altaf Hossain who is cutting trees in this regard, he admits to cutting trees and says that many people are cutting such roadside trees. I didn’t cut down a tree, what happened to it? When he asked where the qualities of the living tree were, his son was sent to a village in Durgapur.
Ulipur Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Shobhan Rangsa was contacted over the phone and said, “I have ordered the forest officer (forest officer) to investigate the matter.” Legal action will be taken if report is received.
