400 trees felled in Patuakhali over land dispute
Despite filing complaints with the police station, the victims claimed no legal action has been taken
At least 400 environment-friendly trees have been felled allegedly by rivals over land dispute at Diara Kochua village in Baufal upazila of Patuakhali district.
Family members and locals said Abul Hashem Matubbar, Abul Kashem Matubbar and Abdul Hakim Matubbar jointly own 21.36 acres of land in the area.
Sons of Abdul Hakim and Abul Kashem alleged that although Abul Hashem's heirs sold all of their share of land his (Hashem) grandson Sakib Hasan alias Caesar Matubbar forcibly occupied around 14.24 acres of land belonging to the other two families.
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Babul Matubbar, son of Abdul Hakim, and Shamsul Haque Matubbar, eldest son of Abul Kashem, jointly alleged that on Saturday and Sunday Sakib Hasan and his hired men illegally cut down nearly 400 trees—including Mahogany, Chambul and Rain trees—from around 62 decimals of land belonging to them.
Despite filing complaints with the police station, they claimed no legal action has been taken.
During a visit to the spot on Sunday, the UNB correspondent found hundreds of logs stacked beside the road and on a boat ready for transport.
Local timber trader Ibrahim said the estimated value of the felled trees is around Tk8 lakh.
One of the workers, Riaz Sardar (25), admitted that they cut the trees under instructions from Sakib Hasan using petrol-run chainsaws.
Village police member Habibur Rahman and Dafadar Mohammad Kovid Hossain said they visited the spot following order from the Officer-in-Charge (OC) to stop the tree felling but the rival group ignored the directives and continued cutting trees the following day.
Sakib Hasan claimed the trees were planted on his ancestral land which he inherited. "I cut down trees on my own land. Police cannot stop me," he said.
Bauphal Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Aktaruzzaman Sarkar said local police were sent to stop the tree felling and both parties were instructed not to remove any felled trees until the dispute is legally resolved.
"If they don't comply, they have been advised to seek remedy through the court," the OC added.
