Authorities say they have cleared view of university Shaheed Minar
When the government is pursuing a tougher forest law to punish the tree plunderers, the Jahangirnagar University authorities have felled some 40 trees during the Eid vacation.
Earlier in June, the JU administration could not cut down those trees for fierce protests by teachers and students.
This time they timed it shrewdly with most of the students gone home during Eid holidays.
At first, they felled a giant banyan tree and a raintree in front of the Shaheed Minar. Later, they cut down 36 tamarisk and devdaru (deodar) trees from the road-island near the main entrance to the Shaheed Minar, said witnesses.
The JU authorities say they have felled the trees so those do not obscure the view of the Shaheed Minar (martyrs’ memorial) from the newly built front gate of the university.
“We took this decision after discussion with engineers and architects,” Shariff Enamul Kabir, vice-chancellor of the university, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Condemning the tree-felling, Anu Muhammad, an economics professor at JU, said it was not only against the environment and the government’s stance but also unaesthetic.
“They [university authorities] do not have a sense of beauty. Since the government is working to amend the forest law, it should take note of such activities,” he observed.
“We were stunned to see this mindless act. If the government does not take exemplary actions, it will encourage others to fell trees at will,” Anu added.
The JU VC, however, claims they have done it to give the campus a facelift.
“Most of the trees chopped down neither bear fruits nor are they used for wood. They are mostly tamarisk trees (jhau). They were invading the road island,” he said.
Calling himself pro-environment, VC Shariff Enamul Kabir said he has planted over 3,000 trees on the campus since taking office.
Anu Muhammad dismisses the logic cited by the VC as an excuse.
“It was a very irresponsible thing to do. We don’t understand why they have to fell trees to make the Shaheed Minar more visible from the main gate,” he said.
