50 acres of encroached forest land recovered in Ctg's Lohagara
The Chittagong Forest Department has recovered 50 acres of encroached land under Satgarh Bit of Chunti Range in Lohagara upazila, in a day-long operation carried out yesterday (23 September). The recovered land includes 17 fish farms, 10 betel leaf plantations, and an orange garden that had been illegally established on protected forest land.
Abdullah Al Mamun, divisional forest officer of Chattogram South Forest Division, confirmed the recoverry saying that an influential group had been encroaching on this reserved forest land for a long time, using it for fishing, betel leaf cultivation, and planting various trees.
"The operation, led by Assistant Conservator of Forests Delwar Hossain from the Chattogram South Forest Division, involved draining the fish farms, removing water barriers, and clearing the orange garden to reclaim the protected land. Among the recovered areas were nine fish farms belonging to AJ Chowdhury and eight to Md Ayub Ali," Mamun said.
He stated that legal action against the encroachers is in process. "We will continue conducting operations in stages to recover further encroached forest land," he added further.
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The forest department's efforts aim to protect and preserve the region's valuable forest areas, which have been under threat due to illegal encroachments. Further action is expected in the coming weeks to safeguard more sections of protected forest land in the area.
