No fewer than 150 hills and hillocks are now at risk of being completely flattened. This time, the cause is not population pressure or the need to reclaim land for agriculture, but a grave error in survey records that borders on criminality. A report in a vernacular daily has revealed disturbing facts: in the Bangladesh Survey (BS) records, about 150 hills and hillocks in Chattogram city, Hathazari, and Sitakunda were wrongly categorised as shankhola (wetland), nal (lowland), khila (uncultivated land), or even homesteads.
Under the Environment Conservation Act, cutting hills and hillocks is strictly prohibited. But due to the glaring errors in the land records maintained by the Ministry of Land, the Ministry of Forest and Environment is reportedly finding it difficult to take legal action against those responsible for levelling hills and selling them off as residential plots. In a time when widespread deforestation is taking a heavy toll on the environment, it is hard to imagine such an environmental crime is taking place due to errors in government's land record.
That the hills and hillocks in Chittagong, like the hills in other areas, were being whittled down by timber smugglers and influential quarters had been known for years. It is strange that all these years the authorities practically did nothing to stop this reckless environmental depredation. The criminals are flattening the hills in a systematic way.
The real problem does not lie in the absence of laws but in their enforcement. Those who violate environmental laws for personal gain are often so powerful and well-connected that the Department of Environment, local administrations, and even law enforcement agencies remain helpless spectators. Errors in survey records further complicate matters, making it difficult for authorities to pursue legal remedies. Even when cases are filed, proving the offences in court becomes a daunting task.
For example, the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), for its part, has prohibited construction on hills and hillocks, but it too has been unable to enforce its directives effectively. Administrative weaknesses, combined with faulty land records, have provided the violators with impunity.
The consequences of hill cutting are catastrophic. Hills and hillocks are inseparably tied to the topography, biodiversity, and cultural heritage of Chattogram. Destroying them means destroying the very ecosystem that sustains the region. In recent years, Chattogram has witnessed recurring landslides, floods, and prolonged waterlogging-direct results of indiscriminate hill cutting. The loss of green cover intensifies heat, disrupts food chains, fills up streams and canals, and worsens urban water crises.
A study by Professor SM Sirajul Haque, former faculty member of the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Science at Chittagong University, revealed that in 1976 the total hill area in Chattogram city was 32.37 square kilometres. By 2008, it had shrunk to just 14.2 square kilometres. In the 17 years since, the loss has almost certainly been greater. Such destruction cannot be brushed aside as development-it is outright environmental vandalism.
This raises pressing questions. Why has the error in the 1970 BS survey not been corrected even after 55 years? How sincere are the Department of Environment, the CDA, and other relevant bodies in preventing hill cutting? The consequences of treating environmental protection as mere rhetoric are already evident. Bangladesh today faces heatwaves, heavy rainfall, flash floods, and droughts with alarming frequency. Each crisis is a reminder of the price of neglect.
This is a serious challenge before not only the forest department but also the administration and law enforcers. The errors in land record must be corrected without any further delay, and the authorities must come down hard on the culprits responsible for cutting hills. This is a plain question of sustainability of the environment.
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