Army allotted forest land illegally

The government has allotted 1,800 acres of forest land in Ramu to the army for building a cantonment bypassing the law.

The environment and forest ministry issued the allotment order on Apr 16.

Minister Anwar Hossain Monju admitted that the law was violated for the allotment.

"According to the law, reserved forest cannot be allotted, but the army has been given the land to build a cantonment in Ramu," he told bdnews24.com on Monday.

The ministry allotted 1,788.98 acres of forest, which is about the size of 15,000 football grounds, in Cox's Bazar's Ramu Upazila.

Monju said he had nothing to do with it.

"We had no other options other than allotting it when the demand came from the highest quarters.

"We (the ministry) had no role in allotting Ramu's reserved forest to the army. We only issued the order," said the minister.

After allocating the land for the army, the Ministry of Forests and Environment said that around 1,800 acres of reserved forest land in three mauzas had been stripped of the status by invoking specific laws.

Gazette notifications on May 25, 1907; July 12, 1930 and June 11, 1935 had declared the three Mouzas as reserved forest.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sept 2 last year inaugurated the restored Ramu Central Seema Bihar, which was damaged and burnt by assailants on Sept 29, 2012.

The local Buddhists requested the prime minister to set up a full-fledged cantonment for the Bangladesh Army at Ramu.

Of the 1788.98 acres of forest land allotted for building the cantonment, 1,180 acres in Rajarkul, 264.55 acres in Khuniyapalang, and 344.43 acres in Umakhali Mouza.

Of them, the forest land of Rajarkul Mouza and Khuniyapalang Mouza are reserved forests, while that of Umakhali Mouza was identified marked as reserved forest land.

The gazette notification said that there were hills, hillocks, ponds and trees the area.

Asked when the construction of the cantonment would begin, the Inter Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) could not give any specific time.

An army official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that though the 24th Infantry Battalion was at Ramu, it lacked infrastructure. So, the unit at Ramu would be upgraded to a full-fledged cantonment, he said.