Thousands of casuarina trees being felled on Teknaf beach

Thousands of casuarina trees have been felled along the beach at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar over the past one month.

These trees, which add to the beauty of the beach and act as coastal shields in times of natural disasters, are being freely axed down, while government officials remain mysteriously silent.

During a recent visit to Shamlapur and Shilkhali, this correspondent found scores of casuarina stumps testifying to the felling over a stretch of about 2.5 km.

In some places, the remains had been carefully buried beneath the sand to keep them from the public gaze.

“Around 50,000 casuarina trees have been felled there over the past one month,” said Habib Ullah, chairman of the local Baharchhora Union Parishad.

“These groves were once filled with shanties used by the Rohingyas, who had infiltrated from Myanmar. They were evicted by the local administration in February last year,” he told bdnews24.com.

The felling of the trees could be an attempt to make space for the Rohingyas to return, said a local.

“A man called Munshi is picking up the trees for Tk 50-80 each. He identifies himself as a forest department staff. He even hires workers to cut the trees. A powerful lobby is out to grab the land,” said the man on condition of anonymity.

Locals allege connivance between the miscreants and government officials.

They said the trees were being felled both during the day and night and that casaurina logs were stored in many homes.

But the forest department, for some inexplicable, was looking the other way, they alleged.

Contacted, Assistant Forest Conservator Mohammad Kabir, who is supposed to look after the coastal plantation, said he had not been to the spot in the past one month.

Md Ali Kabir, forest department official of Cox’s Bazar (north), however, admitted he was aware of the incident.

“I have told my deputies to visit the spot by Wednesday and give me a report. I have also asked them to take steps against those responsible,” he said.

Teknaf Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Shafiul Alam claimed he was not aware of the felling and learnt of it from this correspondent.

He said he would take action after discussing the matter with the forest department.