Chhatak landscape in peril

SYLHET, Mar 8 (UNB): Agriculture and greenery of scenic Chhatak upazila of the district are in jeopardy as mindless soil extraction by a reputed cement manufacture from the hills and hillocks in its surroundings goes on unhindered.
Vast tracts of cropland in the area are facing disastrous effects for the insensible soil lifting by Lafarge Surma Cement Factory.
Locals said collection of soil, which is the key raw material of the cement unit, has badly affected 300 acres of cropland in the neighborhood. For the indiscriminate extraction of soil, the crop fields in many places have turned into deep ditches to the detriment of the ecology here.
Soil extraction from the hills and hillocks is pushing the area with rich greenery into an environmental degradation.
This year, different contractors following tender of Lafarge Surma Cement Factory extracted a total of 20 lakh tonnes of soil from the local farmlands of the area and supplied those to the factory.
On the other hand, movement of trucks, excavators, trolleys and other modes of vehicles carrying the lifted soil makes everything around dusty creating serious health hazards.
The ecosystem of Noarai, Tengragaon, Banshtila, Joynagar, Barkahan, Karilgain, Batikandi, Sharpinnagar and other villages of the upazila is under severe threat for the soil collection from the area.
Though the factory authorities during its establishment promised to collect soil from India, they later, while going into commercial production in 2006, started collecting the key ingredient of cement from the local croplands.
To protect the croplands of the country from damage by human intervention, the government framed a policy named Farmland Protection Policy Act in 2011, which is yet to see implementation.
The policy provides for imprisonment and fine for its violation, but aggression in the farmlands is increasing alarmingly for want of its (policy) implementation.
According to the policy, the country's land is divided into 11 categories.
The policy prohibits giving permission for building structures on the two to three-cropping land, acquisition of excessive quantity of land for establishing industrial units and government offices and cutting croplands, hills and hillocks for similar purposes.
Asked about using soil from the farmlands, Sabbir Hossain, public relations officer of Lafarge Cement, said contractors at their own initiatives supply the soil to the factory from the croplands.