Forestland illegally occupied by hatchery owner

The owner of a hatchery has continued construction of a boundary wall, grabbing government forestlands at Lokkhindor village in Rasulpur union of Ghatail upazila under the district for the last six months.

The structure being made by People's Hatchery covers forestlands at Muraid mouja under Dhalapara forest bit, locals said, adding that a section of local musclemen having political clout are aiding the act.

During a visit to the area a few days ago, this correspondent saw construction of the boundary wall was going amid guarding by some people.

Asked about the matter, Mahbub Hossain, owner of People's Hatchery, said, "The allegation of grabbing government forestlands is not true. The boundary wall covers the lands that we bought from local landowners and we have valid documents of it."

"An earlier misunderstanding with the forest department over the land has already been settled," he added.

On the other hand, Dhalapara forest bit officer Khalilur Rahman said the hatchery authorities have constructed the boundary wall keeping government forestlands inside.

"We stopped the boundary wall construction on several occasions but every time they resumed the work after a few days. The higher authorities were informed of the matter," he added.

The bit officer, however, could not specify the area of the forestlands the hatchery grabbed.

The hatchery authorities have also bought several acres of government khas lands (belonging to 1 No khas khotian under the district administration) with the help of local touts by making forged documents, local sources said.

Abu Jafar, range officer in Dhalapara, said, "After joining the office recently, I was informed about the boundary wall construction covering forestlands. We have already started a survey to conduct a drive for recovering the forestlands from the grabbers."