Human chain against illegal sand mining in Pabna

Tofazzal Hossain Babu, Pabna: Residents of Sujanagar upazila of Pabna formed a human chain in protest against the illegal extraction of sand from the Padma river. On Friday (August 12) morning, men and women of several villages took part in the human chain organized on the banks of the Padma river in Barakhampur village of Nazirganj union of the upazila. The locals complained from the human chain that an influential gang of Pangsha upazila of Rajbari district has been unplanned and illegally lifting sand from Padma river at various points of Sujanagar upazila for a long time. The gang is illegally extracting sand from Padma river using dredgers in Malifa, Kamarhat, Nazirganj Borkhapur, Bulchandrapur, Khalilpur, Hasampur areas of Sujanagar. Due to erosion in the river banks, houses and crop lands are disappearing in the river. They threatened to kill Balu if he tried to stop the bandits. Residents fear that the amount of erosion and damage will increase if sand mining is not stopped. The victims demanded strict action from the administration to stop illegal sand mining in the Padma river. Kamin Sardar, Sheikh Sadi, Alamgir Hossain, Ikka Molla, Ayen Uddin, Khodeja Khatun, Amena Khatun and others spoke at the human chain.