UP member fells roadside trees
Logs of the roadside trees, felled by a member of Ronogopaldi Union Parishad (UP) in Dashmina upazila of Patuakhali district, are kept at his sawmill in the area, inset, one of the felled trees still lies on the road.Photo: STAR
A union parishad member felled at least 10 roadside trees worth Tk one lakh in Dashmina upazila last week. Locals alleged that Abdur Rahman Rob, member of Ronogopaldi union, along with his men cut down at least 10 trees, including rain tree, Mahogany and Shishu, from both sides of road in the eastern side of Jouta Bazar and took the trees to his sawmill. But nobody dared to protest the incident as the UP member is a very influential person in the area, they said. Earlier, Rob felled at least 25 more trees in the area. A few of them were sold while the rest used during construction of his business establishments at the bazar. Despite repeated complaints, the authorities turned as blind eye to the matter, said the locals. Contacted, the UP member said he felled the trees to build a mosque in the bazar. However, he denied the allegation of selling the trees. Abdus Salam, bit officer of forest department, said they have already seized ten trees from the sawmill. Baufal upazila forest officer Awlad Hossain said they did not get any complaint in this regard and refuted the charges of a 'link' between forest men and Rob. We are taking preparation to file a case against the UP member, he said.
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