Our Correspondent

The hills of Bandarban are being bulldozed to make way for brickfields, with officials taking no action, say locals.

Local journalist, Kamrujjaman pointed out a roadside brick factory near the Lama-Alikadam highway in Chhagalniaya, owned by a man named Md Shafi known locally as 'Shafi Mistri'.
 
Kamrujjaman told bdnews24.com: "Shafi Mistri built the huge brickworks 15-16 years ago cutting the surrounding hills."
 
"They are still destroying the hills with bulldozers," he claimed.
 
Officials said they were not informed about any recent cutting of hills. They would take steps if they could find any proof of hill-cutting, they said.
 
Khorshed Alam, son of Shafi Mistri, supervising the brickyard told bdnews24.com: "We have cut a very small part of the hills recently to make dams for a fisheries project."
 
He claimed that his family contributed to development activities in the Lama and Alikadam area, but declined to detail any further on what type of development work his family had undertaken.
 
Local resident Abdul Jalil said of the brick factory: "A couple of decades back, paddy-fields, hills and 8-10 families were here in place of this brick field."
 
"Shafi Mistri just took over the land to build his brick factory, destroying the hills."
 
Another local resident, Azizul Haque claimed: "The hills are being bulldozed again, over the last 15-20 days."
 
Hojjona Bibi, also a resident of the area, backed the claim that the hills were being cut again. "A part of my house has been destroyed," she said.
 
The outgoing UNO Kamrul Hasan Khan told reporters that he did not know about hill-cutting, but steps would be taken if the charge was proved.

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