30 trees looted from temple compound
A gang, allegedly plotting to grab the endowed property of Sri Sri Narayan Thakur temple at Kamalganj in Dinajpur Sadar upazila, felled and looted around 30 trees from the premises on Tuesday. Photo: Focus Bangla
A gang felled and took away around 30 precious trees from a land allegedly belonging to Sri Sri Narayan Thakur temple at Kamalpur Bazaar in Dinajpur Sadar upazila on Tuesday. There are about 140 trees on 64 decimals of endowed property that was given to the temple authority about 150 years ago, said locals and temple authorities. On Tuesday noon, 20 to 25 men led by Akkas Ali and his brother Rafiqul Islam of Kamalpur village came to the temple area brandishing sharp weapons and wooden sticks, locals said. They felled about 30 jackfruit, mango and eucalyptus trees and several bamboo clusters on the temple land, cut them into pieces and carried them away. As the members of temple committee protested the illegal act, the miscreants threatened them of dire consequences, even forcing them out of the country, if they become vocal about the incident. Locals alleged that the temple committee men sought help of local administration during the incident but to no effect. After failed attempt to grab the temple land for long, Rafiqul and Akkas axed the trees out of vengeance in collusion with Md Mokarram Hossain, chairman of Kamalpur UP under Dinajpur Sadar upazila, said several people living around the temple. Besides, Mokarram mysteriously caught temple committee members Manik Roy and Tapan Roy and handed them over to police, triggering tension among the people of Hindu community in the area. However, Manik and Tapan were later released. Asked about the matter, UP Chairman Mokarram Hossain said, "The land actually belongs to Akkas and Rafiqul and members of the temple committee felled the trees without any authority." Akkas and Rafiqul also claimed that the land belongs to them. When contacted, Bhabesh Chandra Roy and Biswa Mitra, president and general secretary of the temple committee, asserted that the land belong to them and attackers illegally felled the trees on Tuesday noon. On the other hand, Dinajpur Sadar police station officer in charge Hasan Shamim Iqbal said that the land is a disputed one according to the district land department office. A tense situation was prevailing in the area but this correspondent did not see any law enforcers during his visit to the place yesterday.
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