Md Mamun Uddin, Staff Reporter || A tree-cutting festival is underway in Hatia, a remote island upazila of Noakhali. Concerned parties allege that miles upon miles of forest land are being cleared due to negligence, irresponsibility and irregular settlement of the land office by the range officers and bit officers. There have been incidents of tree cutting and ringing on a large scale before and after the announcement of the schedule for the 13th National Parliament elections. As a result, this important forest land of the country is now close to becoming a wasteland.According to the forest department and relevant documents, there are about 21,044 acres of government gazetted reserved forest land in 13 chars under 4 bits of the Jahajmara range. In addition, the Nijhum Dwip National Park consists of an area of ​​40,390 acres of government gazetted. On April 8, 2001, the government officially declared this area as the “Nijhum Dwip National Park”.Following the High Court’s directive, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change formed a task force committee on April 30, 2018, with the Deputy Commissioner as the chairman, to maintain and evaluate the Nijhum Dwip National Park under Hatia Upazila. But in reality, there have been allegations that no visible progress has been made in the activities of this committee.It is alleged that the Land Office has registered Char Yunus, which is listed in the official gazette of the National Park, as Char Hair and a new Sukhchar, and has identified various chars with new names and made settlements. This gives land grabbers the opportunity to occupy forest land. Locals said that even after the formation of the task force, a vast area of ​​Char Kalam within the forest land provided for settlement by the Land Office was handed over for occupation about four months ago. There are allegations of opening and settling numerous accounts including accounts numbered 174, 175, 150, 151, 153, 154 and 159 in the Char Yunus area.The last meeting of the task force committee was held on April 27, 2025. In the meeting, the district and upazila administrations and the forest department jointly decided to conduct an on-site investigation, prepare a list of the encroachers and determine the amount of occupied land. At the same time, the local land office was instructed not to make new settlements until the boundaries of the reserved forest were determined and was asked not to hand over the settled forest land.In addition, a proposal was sent to the Land Records and Survey Department to start digital survey work of 13 chars in the reserved forest and national park. It was also decided that the forest department, upazila administration, police and coast guard would work together to stop forest land encroachment and tree felling.But a few days after these decisions, the forest clearing incident started again. Especially after the announcement of the schedule for the 13th National Parliament election on December 11, 2025, trees were cut down on a large scale in the Amtali Project (Tuachar and Rast Char) area of ​​Char Yunus. According to local sources, about 55 to 60 forest criminals under the umbrella of two local political leaders were involved in this tree cutting in the forest along with more than a hundred land-hungry men and women. At the same time, forest cutting continued in the Nijhum Dwip BIT area.Local conscious people alleged that the forest destruction could not be prevented due to the influence of anti-politics as well as the extreme negligence of the Jahajmara Range Officer, Sadar BIT Officer and Char Osman (Nijhum Dwip) BIT Officer.The investigation revealed that although forest cutting had occurred gradually in the past, it took a massive scale after August 5, 2024 and the situation became even more dire after the announcement of the schedule for the National Parliament election.At the time of the incident, the Jahajmara Range Officer was ACF AKM Arif-uz-Zaman, an officer of the 41st BCS (Forest) cadre, who was in range training. At that time, the Deputy Range Officer was Nijhum Dwip Bit Officer Md. Zahid Pramanik. He is currently serving as the Nijhum Dwip Bit Officer and Jahajmara Range Officer.Locals allege that outsourcing worker Masud has been exerting influence in the range office for a long time. He joined the Jahajmara Range about seven years ago. At that time, he was an assistant to Range Officer Saifur Rahman in the field of work. Later, it is alleged that he has been exerting influence on the Forest Department by introducing himself as a relative of various influential local people.It is alleged that during the forest crime, Range Officer Arif-uz-Zaman only performed his duties by sending letters to the administration and law enforcement agencies. On the other hand, the Deputy Range Officer and Bit Officer Md. Zahid Pramanik was absent from work many times, according to locals.Currently, miles upon miles of trees are being cut down and ringed in various areas of the national park, including the Amtali project. Even the trees attached to the forest department camp building were not saved. Those concerned said that if the ringed trees dry up within two months, the entire forest area will become deserted.Former range officer AKM Arif-uz-Zaman said that the criminals were armed with weapons during the cutting of the forest. A letter was sent to Upazila Executive Officer Md. Alauddin and the law enforcement agencies in this regard on December 24. Local BNP leader Lutfullahil Nishan and two leaders were informed. But no cooperation was received. Admitting that Masud had a huge influence on outsourcing, he said, I would not listen to everything he (Masud) said, I would work after finding out the information.Current range officer Md. Zahid Pramanik said that a case has been filed in the case of cutting down trees in government gardens, but he did not agree to show any documents in this regard. Sadar BIT officer Taherul Islam also made a similar statement.According to relevant and local sources, among those involved in the forest land occupation are Liton, the president of the Amtoli Bazar Committee,