Plundering trees from public farm

It is alarming that a public authority is least bothered about protecting a vast forest farm it owns in Rajshahi and equally hesitant to punish those who are destroying it, in spite of the well-known fact that thousands of trees from the farm have been plundered illegally. 

The alleged perpetrator, a ruling party leader from Rajshahi, has cut down the live trees illegally after having won a tender bidding through a questionable process to remove dead and fallen trees. 

The Daily Star reported on the matter first in August. Yet, the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), which owns the farm, did not only turn a blind eye to the continuous plundering, but also took a very unusual step of transferring the whistle-blowing employees. 

Despite the perpetrator's boastful admission as to how he manipulated the tender process by bribing the farm officials, neither the local administration nor DLS has taken any action against the man, apart from suspending his work. No action has been taken against the corrupt officials either, who allowed him to destroy the forest.

It is another instance of using political links to do wrong. We wonder how public officials become complicit in the destruction of public properties—that too, precious natural resource—and get away with it, and how good employees are punished because of their dutifulness. 

We urge the authorities concerned to look into the matter. Lack of stringent actions against the perpetrator and corrupt officials will breed further corruption.