110 trees of Dinajpur forest illegally felled
This spot under Dharmapur forest beat in Biral upazila of Dinajpur district lies barren, save a number of stumps that bear testimony to massive tree felling in the area on Friday night, allegedly to grab the land.Photo: STAR
Criminals felled at least 110 acacia trees of a forest beat at Dharmajan under Biral upazila of Dinajpur on Friday night. Forest officials quoted locals as saying that around 150 people led by Md Alamgir Hossain, brother of Dharmapur Union Parishad Chairman Md Nazrul Islam, started felling trees on an acre area of a forest land at around 10:00pm. Hearing the sound of chopping trees, locals went to the area and saw that 80 acacia trees of the beat on 92 acres of forest land have already been cut down. Being informed by locals, forest official Md Sadequr Rahman along with a police team of Jagatpur police camp reached there at around 11:30pm. Sensing the arrival of the law enforcers, Alamgir and his men managed to flee. The forest officials filed a case with Biral Police Station yesterday accusing 167 people. Of the accused, 17, including Alamgir, were identified. After filing of the case, police arrested three of the accused, the OC said, adding that they are looking for the remaining accused in the case. Locals and forest officials said some influential people, including Alamgir, Ayzul Islam and Rubel Mia, have been trying to grab an acre area of the forest for long, claiming that it belongs to them. Alamgir and his men cut down the trees on Friday night to occupy the land, the forest officials alleged. Alamgir Hossain could not be contacted despite repeated attempts as his cellphone remained off.
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