Cutting 498 reserved forest trees gets Cabinet nod

The Cabinet on Monday approved the proposal for cutting down and removing 498 Sal trees from the Reserved Natural Forest from Joydebpur to Mawa area to help implement the Joydebpur-Mymensingh Road Development Project. The approval came at the 7th regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet of the current government held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan briefed reporters. He said that the cabinet approved the proposal partially relaxing its decision of December 30, 2010 restricting the cutting down of trees from any Reserved Natural Forest till December 31, 2015, aiming to protect the environment and biodiversity of the country. Bhuiyan said with the change of alignment of 4-lane Dhaka-Mymensingh Road based on soil tests, logging the Sal trees has become necessary to implement the project and hence the cabinet approved the proposal issuing directives to plant the same number of trees elsewhere in the forest. Bangladesh Army is implementing the project, and they had sent a request for relaxing the law through the Roads and Highway Division, according to UNB.