7 century-old trees felled overnight in Cumilla

Strong resentment has grown among local residents after seven century-old trees were cut down overnight in Cumilla city. Allegations have surfaced that the old trees were felled under the pretext of widening the road from Tomchom Bridge to Cumilla Medical College.

According to local sources, a total of seven old trees, including two massive rain trees standing on both sides of the main gate of Adarsha Sadar Upazila Parishad along the Tomchom Bridge–Medical College road, were cut down. In addition, at least 30 trees of various species aged between five and ten years were felled near the boundary wall of the Cumilla EPZ area.

During a field visit on Wednesday morning, large tree trunks were seen lying beside the upazila parishad office. At the entrance of the Housing Estate Gol Market road, the roots of a banyan tree estimated to be over 200 years old were uprooted. Several other century-old rain trees were also found cut down in front of Dhulipara and the Cumilla KTC area.

Local residents said the trees were cut into pieces and removed late at night about 20 days ago. These trees provided shade across the area and played a crucial role in maintaining environmental balance.

Although the road falls under the Roads and Highways Department, development work is currently being carried out by Cumilla City Corporation. However, conflicting statements have emerged from the concerned authorities regarding the tree felling.

Khondaker Golam Mostafa, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department in Cumilla, said he was not certain how the trees were cut and that the city corporation would be better positioned to explain.

On the other hand, Cumilla City Corporation executive engineer Md Main-Uddin Chishti claimed that neither the city corporation nor its contractors cut any trees. According to him, Roads and Highways Department had decided to sell the trees through auction in 2020.

Adarsha Sadar Upazila forest officer Md Rafiqul Islam said document verification showed that in 2020, Roads and Highways Department initiated the process to cut seven old trees through auction. Among them, two were mahogany trees and five were rain trees. The banyan tree was not included in the auction as it was a wild tree. One of the seven had been cut earlier, while the remaining six were cut recently. The auction-winning contractor or his workers were responsible for cutting the trees.

Expressing anger over the incident, history researcher Ahsanul Kabir said cutting century-old and over 200-year-old trees in this manner was extremely unfortunate. Even if the 200-year-old banyan tree could not be saved, alternative measures should have been taken. He added that large-scale tree plantation should have been planned before cutting such trees.