Felling trees and defying public outcry: The Dhaka South way

While the Dhaka North mayor has announced to plant two lakh trees to reduce the temperature of the capital city, the Dhaka South authorities are proceeding with the work of widening road dividers and beautifying them with concrete structures by felling hundreds of trees on the Sat Masjid Road in Dhanmondi defying public outcry.

The Dhaka South authorities have claimed that the trees that were felled were not suitable for median strips and would obstruct the movement of buses and other vehicles on the road. 

Md Khairul Baker, director of the ongoing development work on this road and the supervising engineer (environment) of South City's climate and disaster management circle, told TBS that the trees that were there in the median of the road were mostly weeds, due to which accidents had happened many times on the road. Besides, the branches of those trees would obstruct vehicular traffic.

Trees like mango, jackfruit and blackberries are not trees to be planted in the median of a road, he noted, adding, "Those trees had been seeded or grown in some other way at various times. So, in most parts of the road, both sides of the road were uneven, which caused traffic jams."

For this reason, the South City authorities will widen the median strips and plant small and medium-sized flower trees there, he maintained. "We are appointing agriculture officers very soon on whose advice tree saplings will be planted in a well-planned manner," he further added.

The trees, which were in no way a threat to the road and civil safety, were torn down in the dead of the night according to Sat Masjid Road Tree Protection Movement Committee. Photo: Naim Ul Hasan

Dhaka South officials said the trees are being cut under a Tk9.62 crore project, aiming to develop different infrastructures, including the beautification of islands, footpaths, and road medians, and the construction of public toilets. 

Of the total budget, Tk2 crore would be spent on the two-kilometre Sat Masjid Road.

The project, which commenced on 20 September 2022, is scheduled to be completed by 30 June 2023.

But, environmentalists and experts have expressed serious grievances over the indiscriminate felling of all the trees on a road at once. They have demanded an immediate stop to it and that native trees are planted in place of the felled trees. 

Moreover, a new committee called Sat Masjid Road Tree Protection Movement Committee, consisting of environmental activists arranged a press conference on Monday to formally denounce the cutting of hundreds of trees by Dhaka South City Corporation a week earlier (on 1 May). Additionally, demanded that replantation starts as soon as possible. 

Photo: Naim Ul Hasan

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) and a lawyer at the Supreme Court, said, "The onslaught that we have seen in Dhanmondi in the last five days is only possible by this city administration. The city administration does not listen to anyone."

Hasan went on to say that people expect relief, and peace from a city administration, but the incumbent city administration is causing unrest to the city dwellers."

"The trees, which were in no way a threat to the road and civil safety, were torn down in the dead of the night. However, it was possible to widen the road without felling the trees," said Aminur Razi, the coordinator of the movement.

Advocate Sultana Kamal, a human rights activist, expressed her disappointment and said, "I have lived in Dhanmondi since 1961, but I have never seen such brutality as cutting down all the trees at once."

"At present, there are 30 trees on Sat Masjid road. We are keeping watch at night to protect the remaining trees which are the heritage of the road," she said.

The cutting of the trees began in January 2023 as part of a developmental project of the Dhaka South City Corporation, and local people and environmentalists protested after several trees were cut down on 30 January. 

Photo: Naim Ul Hasan

On 31 January, children, students, environmentalists, social workers, researchers, teachers and artists of the area made a human chain in protest. They demanded that saplings be planted in place of the cut trees within seven days. After that, the city corporation suspended the cutting of trees on the road dividers.

However, on the night of 1 May, city corporation workers cut the trees on the median strips of the road adjacent to the Abahani Field and took them away in a truck. Later, they stopped due to the locals' obstruction. After that, they cut down about 1,000 trees on the road in phases defying protests, including human chains.

On Tuesday last, local residents, the Dhanmondi Sat Masjid Road Tree Protection Movement Committee, and the Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) wrote a letter to Environment Secretary Farhina Ahmed requesting action to put a stop to the onslaught. 

Besides, 37 eminent citizens of the country have written to the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation to plant new trees and put a stop to the felling of the trees.

Meanwhile, Md Khairul Baker of the Dhaka South City Corporation told TBS that this time, 13,000 trees will be planted in the South City area. He said that the tender for planting the trees has been completed and planting will start once the earth becomes a little wet. 

Trees will be planted on the Satmasjid road as well under the project, he said, adding, "The trees that will be planted will be of native species, and birds will sit on the trees, flowers will be seen."