The High Court on Thursday directed the authorities to prepare a list of individuals involved in looting white stones from the Bholaganj stone quarry in Sylhet’s Companiganj upazila and submit it within 60 days.
The deputy commissioner of Sylhet and the directors general of the Border Guard Bangladesh and the Rapid Action Battalion were asked to submit compliance reports.
The court also ordered the administration and the law enforcement agencies to take immediate steps to locate and recover the looted stones and return them to their original location along the banks of the Dholai River, an attractive tourist spot in the country.
The order came after a High Court bench of Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque and Justice Aynun Nahar Siddiqua had heard a public interest litigation filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, along with Supreme Court lawyers Aklas Uddin Bhuiyan, Ripon Baroi, and Nasrin Sultana.
The court directed the secretary of the Ministry of Mineral Resources to form an expert committee, including at least one professor from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, within seven days to assess the environmental damage in financial terms. The committee must submit its report within three months.
To prevent further illegal stone lifting, the court instructed the local administration and other respondents to deploy round-the-clock monitoring teams at the site within 48 hours. A compliance report must be filed within two weeks.
The court also asked the authorities to explain why their failure to protect the Bholaganj quarry should not be declared illegal, and why the entire quarry area should not be designated as an Ecologically Critical Area under the Bangladesh Environment Protection Act, 1995.
It further asked why those responsible for the illegal extraction and environmental damage should not be required to pay compensation.
The secretaries of the ministries of mineral resources, environment, forest and climate change, the director general of the Department of Environment, the deputy commissioner, and the superintendent of police in Sylhet have been directed to comply with the orders.
During the hearing, senior lawyer Manzill Murshid, on behalf of HRPB, told the court that white stones were removed under the watch of local authorities and shifted to various parts of Sylhet with support from locally influential individuals.
The looting damaged the natural beauty of the river and caused environmental damage, he said.
He claimed that the illegal activity caused a loss of over Tk 200 crore.
Sylhet district administration, in a move against widespread looting of white stones, seized seventy trucks loaded with around 35,000 cubic-feet stones by operating check posts on Biman Bandar road in 24 hours ending Thursday morning.
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Companiganj police station officer-in-charge Ujayer Al Mahmud Adnan said that they arrested Alamgir Alam, the chairman of Pashchim Islampur union under Companiganj upazila, early Thursday for his suspected involvement in the looting.
Sylhet deputy commissioner Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad said that the district administration had taken a strict stand to prevent the recent looting in the Sadapathar tourist spot and Bholaganj stone quarry under Companiganj upazila.
He said that legal action would be taken against those involved in these illegal activities.
The deputy commissioner, after inspecting the tourist spot, hoped that they would be able to recover the looted stones and replace them to the Sadapathar tourist spot.
He said that steps were being taken following the five decisions taken in a coordination meeting of the district administration at the Sylhet Circuit House Wednesday evening.
According to the decisions, joint forces will be on duty round the clock at the Sadapathar area, and the ecologically critical area of Jaflong under Goainghat upazila to resist any kind of activity that hurts the environment, police check points with the help of joint forces will be operated round the clock in Goainghat and Companiganj upazilas to resist the transport of illegally extracted stones from tourist spots and their adjacent areas.
The meeting also decided to continue the operation to shut down illegal crushing mills and disconnect the power connections to the mills, identify and arrest all those involved in stealing stones, and recover the stolen stones and return them to their previous locations, the deputy commissioner mentioned.
The looting of stones from the Sadapathar and Bholaganj areas increased after the fall of the Awami League regime on August 5, 2024 amid a mass uprising as the administration remained silent and did not take any effective steps to stop the misdeeds, local people said.
