Dhaka North blacklists contractor company for felling trees on road dividers
The Dhaka North City Corporation has blacklisted a contractor company for felling about 30 trees on road dividers near Gabtali's Technical intersection in the capital.
The corporation also temporarily suspended two of its deputy assistant engineers on charges of negligence of duty.
They are – Md Suja Uddin Mahmud, deputy assistant engineer of DNCC traffic engineering circle; and Md Suruzzaman, deputy assistant engineer of the same unit.
The DNCC issued three separate office orders regarding the actions on Thursday (1 June).
According to the orders, the contractor company, M/s SM Rahman International, was declared ineligible to participate in all types of tender process of the Dhaka North City Corporation for the next one year due to violation of work conditions by felling trees without permission.
The city corporation has also decided to cancel the work order given to the contractor.
Dhaka North authorities said the mayor had strictly warned contractors not to cut any tree during any development work but at least about 30 trees on 100 metres of the road divider, from the Technical intersection towards Kalyanpur, were cut a few days ago. On Tuesday, this part of the divider was found dug up. Locals said there were six big trees here.
Workers present there told The Business Standard (TBS) that the trees were about to fall on the ground due to the loosening of the soil on both sides while working on the road divider. So, some trees were cut down and some were uprooted and moved elsewhere.
The cutting of the trees began in January 2023 as part of a developmental project of South City and local people and environmentalists protested after several trees were cut down on 30 January.
On 31 January, children, students, environmentalists, social workers, researchers, teachers and artists of the area made a human chain in protest. They demanded that saplings be planted in place of the cut trees within seven days. After that, the city corporation suspended the cutting of trees on the road dividers.
However, on the night of 1 May, city corporation workers cut the trees on the median strips of the road adjacent to the Abahani playground and took them away in a truck. Later, they stopped due to the locals' protest. After that, they cut down about 1,000 trees on the road in phases defying protests, including human chains.
