Stone looters destroy tourist spot Sadapathar
Widespread looting of white stones by a politically connected unscrupulous group of people at Bholaganj of Companiganj upazila in Sylhet has destroyed the Sadapathar tourist spot.
Local people said that once there were millions of white stones at the tourist spot, but now it looked like a desert due to indiscriminate looting of the natural resource.
They alleged that the looting occurred under the nose of the administration.
Thousands of nature lovers used to flock to the Sadapathar tourist spot every day to see the attractive junction of the hill and river where millions of white stones glittered in the sunlight.
During the Sheikh Hasina-led regime, the High Court had suspended extracting stones from the Sadapathar area as part of efforts to protect the environment.
Though the looting of stones from the Sadapathar area increased after the fall of authoritarian Awami League regime in a mass uprising on August 5, 2024, and it has continued since then, the administration remained silent and did not take any effective step to stop destroying nature, the local people said.
They alleged that there was political support in the looting of stones alongside the silence of local administration.
They said that the unscrupulous group of people took advantage of fragile law and order situation in the country after the 2024 political changeover and looted stones worth several hundred crores from the Sapadhar area.
They also alleged that some local Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders were involved in this unabated looting.
Sylhet district BNP president Abdul Kaiyum Chowdury, however, rejected the allegation brought against their party people and said that they were taking organisational steps against leaders or activists whenever they found any proof of allegations of wrongdoings like extortion, looting and land grabbing.
‘Companiganj upazila BNP president Sahab Uddin was suspended on Monday for his involvement in illegal activities, including looting, extortion and encroachment,’ he said.
Environment and mineral resources affairs advisers recently visited Sylhet and instructed the local administration to take strict measures to stop illegal stone extraction from all tourist destinations.
Following the directive, the authorities conducted drives to remove stone crushing machines for a few days.
But stone looting did not stop. Over the past few days, stone extractors became reckless again, local people alleged.
Abdul Karim Kim, Sylhet unit member secretary of the environmental organisation Dharitree Rakshay Amara (Dhara), said that the local administration had completely failed to stop stone looting.
‘The main reason for this failure of the administration is to gain financial benefits from the stone looting worth of hundreds of crores taka,’ he alleged.
Sylhet deputy commissioner Sher Md Mahbub Murad, however, rejected the allegations brought against the administration.
‘There was no negligence on the part of the administration in protecting the white stones,’ he claimed.
‘We have also called a meeting for Wednesday (today) to stop the stone looting and determine new steps to be taken,’ the deputy commissioner told.
