Stop ravages of hill destroyers

Even twenty to twenty-two years ago, many small and large hills could be seen when visiting Chattogram city. These green hills along the winding paths were a feast for the eyes. To expand the city, to build roads and various infrastructures, many hills were mercilessly cut down. Among them, many hills disappeared under the blows of hill destroyers. But now comes a piece of news that makes one’s eyes pop. According to a report published in the national media last Thursday (18 September), one and a half hundred hills are at risk of disappearing due to survey errors.

According to the information received, more than one and a half hundred hills and hillocks in Chattogram city and in the adjacent upazilas of Hathazari and Sitakunda were wrongly classified in the BS survey. The land area of these hills and hillocks is about 1,400 acres. However, no figures are available on how much hilly land was wrongly classified and cut down when the survey began in 1970. In some places, entire hills and hillocks, and in others parts of them, were recorded under classifications such as ‘shankhola’, ‘nal’, ‘khila’, ‘bari’ and so on. Taking advantage of such mistakes in government surveys, the cutting down of hills and hillocks and the construction of establishments upon them continues. 

The question is, how did such a huge mistake occur in the survey? And once it did occur, why has it not been corrected all this time? And even if there was a mistake, does that mean hills must be cut down in this way? Could the administration not stop this by any means? In Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar and the Chattogram Hill Tracts, hills have long been cut down for building settlements and other reasons. In 1990, the population of Chattogram’s 156 square kilometres was two and a half million. According to the City Corporation, the same area of Chattogram city now has a population of about seven million. To cope with this massive pressure of population, the administration too has had to touch upon matters amounting to destruction of life and nature.

According to the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, amended in 2010, cutting down hills and hillocks is prohibited. Only in the national interest, with clearance from the Department of Environment, may hills be cut. But despite the strictness of the law, preventing the cutting down of hills and hillocks that have been classified under other names in the survey is somewhat difficult. In trying to stop such hill cutting, law enforcement faces various obstacles. When hillocks classified under different names in the land survey are cut down, the Department of Environment faces difficulties in taking legal action. Even when cases are filed against hill cutting, it becomes difficult to get redress in court. Because no matter how much an area of land is described as a hill in court, the classification in the survey records is what the court considers important.

Recently, the Advisor to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Ministry of Water Resources, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, gave special directives to the Deputy Commissioners to take effective measures against uncontrolled cutting of hills and hillocks in various regions of the country. Advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan said that hill cutting increases natural disasters such as landslides, floods, waterlogging, environmental pollution, loss of biodiversity and soil erosion. Integrated measures must be taken immediately to stop this destructive activity. 

We all know these facts. But in reality we do not see them applied. Researchers say hills firmly hold together various plates of the earth’s surface. Because of this characteristic, hills resist tremors on the earth’s upper layers. When hills vanish, environmental disasters arise, including the loss of habitats for wild animals. Hills are a very important part of maintaining environmental balance. They are linked not only with people’s lives and livelihoods but also serve as a refuge for many creatures. When hills are cut down, it creates the risk of biodiversity loss and disruption of the food chain.

The damage that has already been done may not be repaired. But if any last safeguard is still possible, the administration should preserve at least that much. By whatever means, hill cutting must be stopped. If there are mistakes in the survey, then those surveys must also be corrected. Nature cannot be destroyed by hill cutting under any pretext. In this regard, the administration must now take firm decisions.