Scribd
Upload
33 views2 pages

Illegal Sand Mining in Meghna River

The document summarizes the author's nighttime experience witnessing illegal sand mining operations on the Meghna River in Bangladesh. In the dark, the author spotted several dredgers up to 500 meters away that were extracting sand, evading detection by river police. Two speedboats were patrolling around the dredgers to prevent other boats from getting close. The boatman informed the author that all the dredgers were owned by a local politician, Selim Khan, who had been regularly mining sand from the river at night despite it being banned.

Uploaded by

ahmed.mcj.du
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
33 views2 pages

Illegal Sand Mining in Meghna River

The document summarizes the author's nighttime experience witnessing illegal sand mining operations on the Meghna River in Bangladesh. In the dark, the author spotted several dredgers up to 500 meters away that were extracting sand, evading detection by river police. Two speedboats were patrolling around the dredgers to prevent other boats from getting close. The boatman informed the author that all the dredgers were owned by a local politician, Selim Khan, who had been regularly mining sand from the river at night despite it being banned.

Uploaded by

ahmed.mcj.du
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Of illegal sand lifting and Dipu Moni’s 15

letters
There were no signs of life on the Meghna river as our engine boat cut through the darkness on the night
of October 5. It was around 12:30am. This part of Chandpur Sadar upazila had long gone to sleep, and yet
the boatman warned against flashing any light or making any sound.

The fear of drawing any attention was so palpable that the boatman shut the engine after about 20
minutes. The boat was now floating along the current silently.

Soon, about 500 metres away, we spotted some faint lights flickering in a half circle in the middle of the
mighty Meghna. A little further, and the lights became clearer, and some sharp sounds pierced the silence
of the night. They were all coming from dredgers, now visible, extracting sands evading the eyes of the
river police.

Only two days earlier on October 3, the river police arrested nine people, and seized a bulk carrier and a
dredger for illegal sand lifting in Meghna's Gucchagram area. Both the bulk carrier and the dredger
belong to Selim Khan, chairman of Chandpur's Laxmipur Model Union, said Chandpur Deputy
Commissioner Kamrul Hasan.

In the 2.5km stretch from Chandpur Sadar upazila's Harinaghat to Bahariya, we spotted seven dredgers on
the night of October 5. Around the dredgers were two speedboats, patrolling in a close formation to
prevent any other vessels or fishing boats from going near.

The night was too dark to take photos or videos, and we turned the boat around for our safety.

"All these dredgers are owned by Selim Khan and his family members. Selim Khan's henchmen do not
allow even fishing boats in this area at night to keep their sand mining hidden from the public," said the
boatman whom we are not naming for his safety.

Sand lifting in the Meghna is banned since the middle of last year. Still, Selim Khan has been extracting
sand from Bahariya, Harina, and Alur Bazar at night, usually from 10:00pm-6:00am, almost regularly,
locals and district administration officials say.

The extracted sand is then taken to Harinaghat, Munshiganj, Sonargaon, Narayanganj, Dhaka and other
places.

Selim Khan declined to comment for this story, first saying he was unwell. When pressed, he hung up the
call, and did not respond to our calls and text messages afterwards.

Word Meaning Word Meaning


cut through the darkness AÜKv‡ii ga¨ w`‡q in the middle of gvSLv‡b
hvIqv
lifting DËjb Kiv, D×iY A little further Aí wKQzÿY c‡i
had long gone to sleep Mwfi wb`ªvq sharp ¯úó/aviv‡jv
Av”Qvw`Z wQ‡jv
and yet Ges ZL‡bv pierced inm¨‡f` Kiv
warned against ‡Kv‡bv wKQz ‡_‡K extracting AvniY Kiv
mZK© Kiv
The fear of f‡q evading dvwK †`Iqv
so palpable that GZB ¯úk© two days earlier `yB w`b Av‡M
MÖvn¨/cÖwZqgvb †h,,
Soon wkNªB seized ev‡Rqvß Kiv
about 500 metres away cÖvq 500 wgUvi `~‡i belong to AwaKv‡i _vKv
spotted wPwýZ Kiv/ Ly‡R patrolling Unj †`Iqv
cvIqv
faint lights wÿY Av‡jv turn around Ny‡i `vov‡bv
flickering wgUwgU K‡i R¦jv mining Lbb

You might also like