An environmental group called Bangladesh Environment Forum alleged Sunday that 120 hills had vanished from Chattogram city in the past forty years.
The port city’s hills decreased from 32.37 square kilometers in 1976 to 14.02 square kilometers in 2008, according to a written statement from the forum’s general secretary, Aliur Rahman. He was addressing during a press conference held at the Chattogram Press Club.
According to Aliur, In the port city, there were 200 hills 40 years ago, 60% of those have vanished now . He claimed that 15 of them were removed by the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) for the construction of the Bayezid Link Road.
In the written statement, he stated that Salimpur’s entire mountainous area covered with 3,100 acres. But those have been chopped down and destroyed during the past twenty years. On those hills, he added, thousands of homes have now been constructed.
The environment forum also made a seven-point demand at the press conference, including the arrest of individuals responsible for razing hills.
Mozammel Haque, former Vice-Chancellor of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Manjurul Kibria; professor of Zoology Department of Chittagong University and Chowdhury Farid, president of Bangladesh Environment Forum’s Chattogram chapter, among others, were present.
