According to Parbatya Chattogram Forest and Land Rights Protection Movement, timber smugglers are destroying the Sangu reserve forest in connivance with some unscrupulous officials of the forest department. The platform alleges that the smugglers have been using more than 1,000 loggers since mid-September to destroy the natural forest to collect timber illegally.
With parts of the Sangu and Matamuhuri forests, the Sangu-Matamuhuri Sanctuary was created in 2010. The purpose of creating the sanctuary was to protect endangered wildlife in Bangladesh. This reserve forest is known as the only virgin forest in the country which was declared protected in 1880. The forest is home to 36 species of mammals, 48 species of reptiles, 19 species of amphibians, and 11 species of rare birds. Indiscriminate logging will threaten wild animals of the forest and surrounding areas. As a result, the entire ecosystem will face extinction. Moreover, destruction of the forest would have a serious negative impact on the flow of the Sangu River, even the river might dry up. In short, the entire locality will face the adverse effects of deforestation.
However, smuggling of timber from the reserve forest has become a matter of serious concern, because it is assumed that government officials are directly involved with smuggling--since smugglers have to cross 12-14 check posts of the forest department, police and other law enforcement agencies --to reach nearby Thanchi Upazila from the forest. We are surprised to learn that, the government officials failed to identify irregularities regarding the issue, which is suspicious. Even though the assistant conservator of forest in Bandarban categorically denied the allegation of the officials' involvement in smuggling of timber, he could not deny the issue of illegal logging and didn't explain the matter any further. By saying "we have some limitations for travelling to the Sangu reserve forest as it is located in a very remote area," he averted responsibilities.
We call on our forest reserve disciplinary authorities to protect Sangu-Matamuhuri sanctuary and Sangu Reserve Natural Forest from destruction and to take immediate action against the timber smugglers. We demand immediate removal of loggers tasked with felling trees from the Sangu forest. Departmental action against dishonest officials of the forest department is a must to stop this criminal activity. Stopping transporting of timber adjacent to the Sangu protected forest is a must.
Simultaneously, the need of the hour is to form a high level multi-sectoral committee to probe into timber smuggling and protect the forest and its abidance, wild animals.
