In the darkness of the night, the centenary pond was filled, the administration sold the soil after getting the news
Photo Collected
In the darkness of night in Laksam Municipal area of Comilla, a century-old pond was mostly filled. Later the upazila administration conducted a raid there and sold the pond filling soil in public auction. This auction process was completed on Monday afternoon. Four people participated in it. Before this, the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) ordered to sell the filled sand-soil by auction on Sunday evening.
The incident took place in Paschimgaon area of Laksam-Sriyang road. The centenary pond is known as Jordpukur. Its area is 1.06 acres. Two-thirds of the pond was already filled. Local residents have expressed anger over the filling of the century-old pond. They demanded that the people involved be brought under the law.
বিজ্ঞাপন
According to local residents and upazila administration sources, an influential gang was filling the pond with sand and soil in the dark of night for several days in Paschimgaon area of Laksam-Sriyang road. On Sunday evening, UNO Nargis Sultana conducted a mobile court operation there after receiving secret information. In the raid, none of the people who filled the pond were found on the spot, but the fact of filling the pond was found. Then 4 lakh 14 thousand 360 square feet of sand-soil was seized and auction was announced.
Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) and Executive Magistrate Milan Chakma, Upazila Engineer Sadiqul Jahan (Ridan), Upazila Project Implementation Officer Ahmed Ullah (Green) and Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Laksam Police Station Kazi Kamrunnahar Laili were present at this auction organized by the upazila administration. As the highest bidder in the auction, Mizanur Rahman bought the land for 2 lakh 74 thousand taka.
বিজ্ঞাপন
Expressing anger about the filling of the pond, Shamchul Alam, a local in his sixties, said, “I have been seeing this huge pond since the time of my father and grandfather.” It was very useful for protecting the environment and water use of the area. The dominants were making it a desert before our eyes. We got some relief from this initiative of the administration.
Manik Mia, another local youth, said, “The pond has been filled by bringing sand and earth by trucks and tractors in the dark of night.” People could not sleep because of the sound of trucks and tractors at night for four or five days. We wanted the pond to return to its former state. We have many memories in this pond. Let’s finally save the pond – that’s our joy.’
According to local people, there is another pond in the same area. For this the filled pond is known as Jordpukur. This pond is helping to keep the area free from waterlogging. Besides, the surrounding people use the water of the pond for their daily activities. Everyone urged the administration to be careful not to fill the pond again.
This evening, Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Milan Chakma told Prothom Alo that after depositing the auction money in the government treasury, soil and sand will be removed from the pond through a work order. Care will be taken to ensure that no one can attempt to refill the pond.
When asked whether legal action will be taken against those who tried to fill it, Milan Chakma said, “Two-thirds of the pond was filled.” For this reason, as soon as we received the news, we conducted an operation in the mobile court. Soon the owners of the pond will be notified. After knowing the details from them, legal action will be taken later.
Laksam upazila executive officer Nargis Sultana said that there are strict instructions against filling ponds, ponds and reservoirs to protect the balance of the environment. Such operations of the administration will continue to protect public interest and environment. He said that no one will be exempted in this regard.
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