Dhaka: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has instructed the authorities concerned to initiate a probe into destruction of environmental and biodiversity by cutting the historically and archaeologically significant Lalmai Hills under an infrastructure development of Comilla University.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, a letter signed by Dil Afroze Begum, Deputy Secretary of the ministry, requested the Senior Secretary of the Secondary and Higher Education Division to form an inter-ministerial investigation committee. This committee will include representatives from the Planning Commission, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and other relevant ministries, to identify responsibilities and take necessary actions.
The infrastructure development project was approved during an ECNEC meeting in 2018, with a condition that infrastructure designs must avoid hill cutting. The Department of Environment (DoE) also instructed that no activity under the project could harm the environment or biodiversity.
These conditions were violated as hills were cut for infrastructure development without obtaining any environmental clearance. A field visit by the Ministry of Environment confirmed this violation, according to a ministry press release.
Such actions by a higher education institution like Comilla University set a harmful example and send a negative message about development at the cost of environmental degradation.