At least 35 fruit bearing trees on a government office premises at Akcha village adjacent to Thakurgaon-Ruhia road have been sold allegedly at throwaway prices.
Local people resisted the buyer when he was felling the trees with his workers on Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) compound on Monday afternoon.
LGED office and local sources said, 35 different fruit bearing trees were sold earlier to local timber trader Fazlur Rahman at a cost of Tk 20,000.
On Monday at about 4:30pm, he along with his workers went to the LGED garden and started to fell the trees.
A group of local people went to the place and asked him to show papers.
As the buyer failed to show any official order, they forced them to stop the work.
Locals including Shaiful Islam and Md Rubel, said the market price of the 35 trees would be at least Tk 1 lakh but the trees were sold at Tk 20,000 without inviting any tender.
Despite several attempts, executive engineer of Thakurgaon LGED Shariful Islam could not be contacted as he was not at his office. His cellphone was also out of reach.
Assistant engineer of LGED Shujan Kumar Kar said, the office recently took an initiative to plant mango trees at the garden. Three trees were felled to test the soil whether it is suitable for cultivation of Amropali variety .
However, he refuted the report of selling 35 trees by the office.
Replying to a query, he said as the trees were not of much importance, the authorities sold them without tender.
Source : The Daily Star
