Cutting forests, building dam: Case against GPH Ispat ready for trial after 5-year

Five years ago, the Chattogram forest department filed a case against officials and workers of the country's leading steel manufacturer GPH Ispat, including its additional managing director Almas Shimul,  for illegally cutting forests and building a dam that obstructed the way of life of ethnic groups living in the area.

The case experienced many ups and downs but is finally ready to go on trial.

The revision case filed by the GPH Ispat authorities with the Chittagong district and sessions judge court seeking exemption from the chargesheet was dismissed on 31 January this year, Advocate Robi Shankar Chowdhury, representative of the forest department and a special public prosecutor of the court told The Business Standard.

The order from the district and sessions judge court reached the forest court concerned recently and on Thursday (8 June), 27 July was fixed for the next date of hearing in the case for examining the witnesses.

"Now there is no bar to begin the trial of the case. The court will examine witnesses on the next date," Advocate Robi Shankar said. 
The other accused in this case are Md Liton, 40, son of late Saleh Ahmed of Kazi Para area of Kumira Union in Sitakunda, and Md Alamgir (32), son of late Didarul Islam of the same area.

Robi Shankar said the GPH Ispat has built dams in hilly areas by destroying the environment in 2019 at Sitakunda.  "A hill has been cut. Due to a lack of water, many aquatic animals have died and there has been extensive damage to vegetation," he said.

"The local tribes that depended on the water from the fountain have been left helpless. The construction of the dam has benefited the GPH Ispat authorities but destroyed the biodiversity of the forest," Robi Shankar said.  

Shafiul Karim Majumdar, assistant director of Forest Cases, Chattogram (North) Forest Department, confirmed the development to The Business Standard.  

"Despite huge pressure, we did not compromise with GPH Ispat authorities. There will be no tolerance for those who have harmed the forest and environment," he said.

According to the forest officials, it is very challenging for the forest department to file a case in court against the environment-damaging activities of GPH Ispat.  Besides, the Department of Environment has issued a clearance certificate for the water reservoir project built by constructing a dam on a hilly fountain violating the law.

When contacted, Almas Shimul, additional managing director of GPH Ispat, told The Business Standard, "I am ill and currently at a hospital in Singapore. I do not want to make any comment on the matter."

Kamrul Islam, executive director of GPH Ispat, Jahangir Alam, managing director and Alamgir Kabir, chairman of GPH Ispat could not be contacted over the phone despite repeated attempts by The Business Standard.

5-year journey of the case

According to the case documents, GPH Ispat's Managing Director Jahangir Alam was dropped from the accused list after a series of hearings in court and finally, on 13 October last year, charges were framed against the GPH Ispat AMD Almas Shimul and two other accused. 

Judge Senior Judicial Magistrate Farzana Yasmin of Chattogram Forest Court framed the charges under section 1 (c) of 33 of the Forest Act of 1927.

On 31 October, GPH Ispat authorities filed a revision case against this charge in the Court of District and Sessions Judge.  

But on 31 January this year, the judge of the district and session judge court Azizur Rahman Bhuiyan dismissed GPH Ispat's revision case. 

Why were charges framed against GPH Ispat?

After filing the case in 2019, the investigating officer and the then forester of Kumira Bit, Bibash Kumar Malakar, submitted the charge sheet to the court after a three-phase investigation of the forest department. 

In the charge sheet, GPH Ispat has been accused of destroying the environment by cutting hills and constructing long dams in hilly areas with removed soil, and by stopping the water flow of the areas, changing its course and character and damaging biodiversity that caused financial loss worth Tk65,17,500.

In the charge sheet, it has been mentioned that the allegations against GPH Ispat in cutting 15,175 cubic feet of hills and constructing a 125 feet long and 17 feet wide dam on a fountain have been found to be true.

It is also mentioned in the chargesheet that the natural flow of water has been obstructed due to the construction of dams. Due to the dam, the water level will rise and vast areas of low-lying forests and woodlands will be submerged under water during monsoon.  

On the other hand, due to the lack of water, there will be a lot of damage to the hill plants during summer.  As a result, the diversity of the land will change and serious environmental disasters will occur. Charges have been framed against the accused for committing an offence under Section 33 of 1 (c) of the Forest Act of 1927 for encroaching on reserved forest land and carrying out activities that destroy the environment.

Lives of 300 members of an ethnic group under threat

The hilly area near the fountain was home to about 300 members of an ethnic group named Tripura. They used to live on farming different fruits and vegetables in the hills. The construction of the artificial dam on the fountain left ethnic people helpless. 

After the construction of the dam, a huge plain of land went underwater where the ethnic people used to grow different vegetables.

Moreover, the dam obstructed the walkway through which they used to go to the market to sell their goods.