At least 400 environment-friendly trees have been felled allegedly by rivals over land dispute at Diara Kochua village under Baufal in Patuakhali district.
People of the area said that Abul Hashem Matubbar, Abul Kashem Matubbar and Abdul Hakim Matubbar jointly own 21.36 acres of land in the area.
Sons of Abdul Hakim and Abul Kashem alleged that although Abul Hashem鈥檚 heirs sold their entire share of land, his grandson Sakib Hasan alias Caesar Matubbar forcibly occupied around 14.24 acres of land belonging to the other two families.
Babul Matubbar, son of Abdul Hakim, and Shamsul Haque Matubbar, eldest son of Abul Kashem, alleged that on Saturday and Sunday Sakib Hasan and his hired men illegally cut down nearly 400 trees from around 62 decimals of land belonging to them.
Despite filing complaints with the police station, they claimed that no legal action had been taken in this regard.
During a visit to the spot on Sunday, it was found that hundreds of logs stacked beside the road and on a boat ready for transport.
Local timber trader Ibrahim said that the estimated value of the felled trees is around Tk 8 lakh.
One of the workers, Riaz Sardar, 25, admitted that they cut the trees under instructions from Sakib Hasan using petrol-run chainsaws.
Village police member Habibur Rahman and dafadar Mohammad Kovid Hossain said that they visited the spot following order from the officer-in-charge to stop the tree felling but the rival group ignored the directives and continued cutting trees the following day.
Sakib Hasan claimed the trees were planted on his ancestral land which he inherited. "I cut down trees on my own land. Police cannot stop me," he said.
Bauphal Police Station鈥檚 OC Mohammad Aktaruzzaman Sarkar said local police were sent to stop the tree felling and both parties were instructed not to remove any felled trees until the dispute is legally resolved.
鈥淚f they don鈥檛 comply, they have been advised to seek remedy through the court,鈥� the OC added.