Hear no evil, see no evil, punish no evil

People with connection to powerful quarters continue to cut down hills across Bangladesh in the name of creating housing plots. It is happening this time right in the middle of Chattogram city. A detailed report in this daily highlights that the hilly areas of Chhinnomul Bazar in Chattogram's Arefin Nagar area have a number of signboards of housing projects, and that plots are being offered for Tk 7-12 lakh. It is said that the whole area surrounding Bayezid Bostami-Faujdarhat Link Road has seen mushrooming of such housing projects in recent years, where hills are being cut down on a daily basis right under the nose of the administration.

The surprising part of the story is that while entire hills are being razed, neither the Department of Environment (DoE) nor the district commissioner's office apparently has any clue of such massive activities. Hence, the pertinent question that arises is: Why does the DoE exist if it cannot exert force to protect natural assets before they are destroyed?

This daily has been consistent in reporting on how powerful people, in cahoots with some unscrupulous officials of the administration, have been levelling hills to create housing projects, especially in the hilly areas. In all the reported cases, the lack of surveillance by the competent authorities has come out in the open, but no immediate action has been taken to deter the criminals and send them to prison. Nor has any action ever been taken against those officials who have consistently turned a blind eye to these activities. It is, therefore, not surprising that housing projects in hill areas are booming, thereby spelling disaster for the environment.

We wonder: when millennia-old hills get razed to the ground defying the laws of the land, what do the DoE, UNOs, DCs and NGOs do to save them? Hills work as natural barriers to protect people from cyclones and floods. If all the hills are cut down one by one in a predominantly hilly region, the environmental calamity that would ensue will be one of dreadful magnitude.  We are deeply concerned to learn that, in most cases, the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) allows construction on condition of obtaining a "no objection certificate" (NOC) from the DoE. That means by spending money and exerting influence, anyone can obtain a certificate and go and cut down an entire hill! We believe it's high time the ministries concerned woke up and put a stop to hill-cutting under any scheme whatsoever.