Case Filed Against Contractor for Stealing Sand Worth 50 Million Taka from Land in Sunamganj

A case has been filed against a contracting firm named ‘Limpid Engineering’ for allegedly stealing sand worth approximately 50 million taka from privately owned agricultural land along the Dhopajan River in Sunamganj.

The case was filed on Thursday at Bishwambharpur Court by Golam Hossain, a resident of South Arpinagar, Sunamganj municipality. The judge accepted the case and instructed the Officer-in-Charge of Bishwambharpur Police Station to investigate. Lawyer Md. Nazmul Huda confirmed the filing and the court’s order.

The complaint states that the plaintiff’s family owns 2 acres and 40 decimals of agricultural land in Rataragaon Mauza, along the Dhopajan River. A case regarding this land is ongoing in the Land Survey Tribunal. However, Limpid Engineering allegedly cut the riverbank and extracted sand from the land with permission, destroying the crops.

The plaintiff claims that on the night of October 27, he witnessed Limpid workers dredging sand from his land. When he tried to intervene, he was threatened with death. He asserts that the accused extracted and sold sand worth about 50 million taka from his land, causing a portion of it to wash into the river.

Authorities and local sources stated that the Dhopajan River, flowing from across the India border, stretches across Sunamganj Sadar and Bishwambharpur Upazilas. The river’s lease has been suspended since 2018 due to environmental damage caused by uncontrolled sand extraction. The river falls under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

Despite the lease suspension, illegal sand extraction continues. Particularly since August 5, 2024, large-scale sand plundering has occurred, estimated at 10 billion taka worth in two and a half months. In July, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) granted Limpid Engineering permission to extract 12.1 million cubic feet of sand, to be used for the Sylhet-Dhaka highway project. However, the Dhopajan River is not under BIWTA jurisdiction.

In August, the district administration informed higher authorities that the river does not have BT sand, only high-quality silica sand. Granting permission could undermine law and order and was procedurally improper. Since then, various organizations have protested the extraction through human chains, rallies, and memorandum submissions. The National Citizens Party (NCP) held a human chain and rally last Wednesday with the same demands.

AKM Abu Nasar, resident of Muslimpur village and president of the Sunamganj Environmental Protection Movement, stated that despite protests, no action has been effective. Major sand plunderers, in collaboration with local influential individuals and beneficiaries, are selling extracted sand. The sand plundering must be stopped.

khaborwala/TSN