Apparently holding the BNP-Jamaat alliance and Hefajat-e-Islam responsible for the recent felling of thousands of trees across the country in the name of movement, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said those responsible for such offences should be brought under the ambit of law. “In recent times, thousands of trees alongside roads and on islands across the country were cut down in the name of movement…I don’t know what kind of movement it is to cut down trees in the name of agitations?” she wondered.
The Prime Minister was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the World Environment Day, three-month long National Tree Plantation Campaign and Tree Fair, 2013 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC).
She said legal action should be taken against those under the Environment Act who are causing harm to the environment through cutting trees.
Urging the agitators to refrain from logging trees in the name of movement, Hasina said, “I’ll now urge them to join the movement of tree plantation as our religion Islam also suggested planting trees.”
The theme of this year’s National Tree Plantation Campaign and Tree Fair is ‘Gachch lagiye bhorbo desh, toiri korbo sukher poribesh’ (Let fill the country with trees, create happy environment).
Chaired by Environment and Forests Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, the programme was also addressed, among others, by Ministry Secretary M Shafiqur Rahman Patwari. Director General of Department of Environment Golam Rabbani delivered the welcome address, while Chief Conservator of Forests Md Yunus Ali gave the vote of thanks.
Hasina also called upon the people of the country to plant at least three types of trees — one of fruit-bearing, one of timber and another of herbal — to improve the environment.
Putting emphasis on using every inch of land in a planned manner, Sheikh Hasina said her government has taken initiatives to bring 20 percent of the country’s total land under afforestation.
After assuming office in 1996, the Prime Minister mentioned, her government has taken broader initiatives to plant trees across the country, including on road islands.
-With The Independent input
