Over 400 illegal saw mills operate in Sylhet region

Our Correspondent | Published: June 22, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

SYLHET, June 21: More than 400 illegally set saw mills in Sylhet region have been running their trade due to absence of proper monitoring by the lawmen as well as by the Forest Department. Almost all these are fully dependent on the logs, felled by miscreants from the government-owned forests and smuggled timbers, sources alleged.
Owners of these mills set their units illegally on the areas close to Indian borders as well as close to the government forest beats. According to the forest rules, setting saw mill in 5 km of Indian border and in 10 km of a government forest beat is prohibited. Besides, for starting a saw mill, one needs permit from Forest Department, trade licence and have to follow other formalities. But, many people did so without proper permission and licence.
Presently, there are 837 authorised saw mills in the division whereas 402 are illegal. The authority shutdown 202 illegal saw mills out of the total 402 during the last one and half years. However, some of them resumed their trade in lieu of court orders while many others did it without any legal authorisation.
Contacted, the Divisional Forest Officer of Sylhet Md. Delwar Hossain told this correspondent Saturday, 'We launch drives against the illegal saw mills every month'. Sometimes, the mobile courts arrest the errant owners, but within weeks they get bail and resume the trade', he added. In April 2015 only we had shutdown 20 mills and in May it was 13. The official said, "We can't take legal steps frequently due to shortage of manpower and other logistic facilities.
Of the total, 164 illegal saw mills are in Sylhet district, 82 in Sunamganj, 68 in Moulvibazar and 89 are in Habiganj district. Most of the illegal mills are in bordering areas like Companiganj, Gowainghat, Kanaighat, Chunarughat, Bahubal, Kulaura, Juri, Barlekha, Moulvibazar sadar, Chhatak and Doarabazar upozilas.
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