Nearly 2.80 lakh cubic feet of stones looted from different places in Sylhet were recovered in drives from Monday night to Tuesday morning.
Of the volume, another 50,000cft stones looted from Sadapathar, a popular tourist spot in Bholaganj area at Companiganj upazila in Sylhet, have been recovered.
With the recovery on Monday night, about 5.45 lakh cft of stones looted from Sadapathar have so far been recovered in different drives since August 14.
Companiganj police station officer-in-charge Uzayer Al Mahmud Adnan told 抖阴精品 on Tuesday that a team of police recovered Monday night more 50,000cft of stones looted from Sadapathar.
Responding to a query, the police official said that 12 people had been arrested so far in the case filed against some 1,500 people for looting the Sadapathar stones.
According to environment rights activists and local people, more than 20 million cubic feet of stones have been looted from the Sadapathar tourist spot and Jaflong area under Goainghat upazila in the district since the fall of authoritarian Awami League regime on August 5 past year.
A public outcry over the stone looting prompted the government to launch on August 14 drives against the looters who have political connections and take other administrative measures to check stone thefts.
On Tuesday, a task force recovered 29,500cft of stones and 35,000cft of sand looted from the Rangpani tourist spot and the Rangpani River in Shripur area under Jaintapur in Sylhet during two separate drives conducted between Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
The task force led by Jaintapur executive magistrate Farzana Akter Labony conducted the drives following media reports on the looting of stones from Rangpani.
Farzana, also assistant commissioner of the upazila, told 抖阴精品 that they in association with the law-enforcing agencies conducted a drive Tuesday morning in Sripur area and seized about 20,000cft of stones and 28,000cft of sand piled along different parts on the bank of the Rangpani River as well as at the adjacent crusher mills.
She said that the task force also conducted a drive Monday in Banglabazar area along the Rangpani River and seized 9,500cft of stones at a crusher mill and about 7,000cft of sand from the river bank.
She said that the seized 7,000cft of sand had already been sold through an open auction and rest of the sand was under process to be sold.
鈥楾he seized stones will soon be placed at the Rangpani tourist spot,鈥� she said, adding that cases would also be filed against the owners of stone crusher mills concerned.
Companiganj police station officer-in-charge Uzayer said that a team of joint forces led by executive magistrate Israhim Iqbal Chowdhury conducted a drive in Uthma Chhara area, another tourist spot at the upazila, and recovered about 2,00,000cft of stones from different parts of the area.
鈥楾he seized stones were extracted illegally from Utma Chhara,鈥� he said, adding that the efforts to put the stones back to their original locations were under way.
Environment rights activists and local people alleged that unscrupulous people having political connections took advantage of fragile law and order situation in the country after the 2024 political changeover to loot stones from different belts.
The interim government on Monday made a number changes in the Sylhet administration amid allegations of the local administration鈥檚 inaction over the widespread looting of stones
Sylhet divisional commissioner Khan Md Reza-Un-Nabi issued an order on Tuesday, replacing the newly appointed Companiganj upazila nirbahi officer Shafiqul Islam by Habiganj district鈥檚 Chunarughat UNO Mohammad Rabin Mia.
The replacement order was issued within 24 hours of the issuance of an order on Monday that replaced Companiganj UNO Azizunnahar by the then Fenchuganj UNO Shafiqul.
Shafiqul has now been appointed as the Chunarughat UNO, according to official sources.
The public administration ministry on Monday appointed law adviser鈥檚 private secretary Md Sarwoer Alam as the Sylhet deputy commissioner, replacing Muhammad Sher Mahmud Murad who was made an officer on special duty.
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 and the tourist spot.
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, local people said.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Monday suspended its Companiganj unit president Salah Uddin for his suspected involvement in the looting of stones from Sadapathar.