Tangail’s madhupur: Foresters, Garo people at odds over land

Tensions have been brewing between members of the Garo communityand foresters over pieces of land in the Amtali forest of Tangail's Madhupur upazila.

While Garos have been cultivating crops on the land for generations, the forest department has recently adopted a plan to dig an artificial lake there for tourists.

A few days ago, the authorities put up a sign forbidding people from entering the land, saying it was "reserved forestland".

Locals have been opposing the lake from the very beginning, fearing endangerment of their livelihood and culture.

Witnesses said some foresters, led by Dokhala Range Officer Ismail Hossain, went to the area on Wednesday after learning that Garos, including Kaushala Nokrek, a well-known farmer in the area, were ploughing the land with some other workers.

The rangers retreated following an altercation between the two sides. They, however, took policemen to the spot later to stop the farmers.

Garo farmers alleged that the rangers threatened to shoot them.

Contacted, Kaushala said they have been cultivating the land for generations. The foresters, on Wednesday, went there and threatened to shoot.

"I asked them if the weapons were provided to them by the government to shoot us," she told The Daily Star

Her question was met with a threat.

She asked this correspondent, "What will we eat if we can't cultivate?"

Range Officer Ismail said they went to the spot to forbid the Garos from ploughing land with tractors.

"But they continued their work."

He denied the allegation of threatening to open fire. "We didn't say we would shoot them. When we asked them to stop ploughing, they chanted 'shoot us'. We then left the area."

Local Garo leader Eugene Nokrek, also the president of Joyenshahi Adivasi Unnayan Parishad, told The Daily Star that several indigenous families had been cultivating crops for a long time on the lands where the forest department plans to dig the lake.

The department is constructing a new rest house close to the area.

Local lawmakers, following the agriculture ministry's directives, have spoken to locals in this regard. The locals, however, did not agree to the lake or the rest house.

Eugene further said, "We think it is important to resolve the issue quickly through discussions."

Sajjadur Rahman, divisional forest officer in Tangail, said though the locals cultivate crops on the land, it is the government-gazetted reserved forest land which has been earmarked for the lake.

"On humanitarian grounds, the Tangail deputy commissioner has already pledged to give Tk 5 lakh to the locals who cultivate there. The upazila administration has promised to provide another Tk 5 lakh."

He said the locals were even assured of earnings from renting out boats on the lake, but they still did not agree.

"What can we do? As government employees, we have to carry out our duties as per directives."