Illegal cutting of top soil from agricultural lands is going on unabated around the country right under the nose of the administration. It is a crime of magnum proportion because all lands belong to the state and no one has the right to damage or alter the topography. Unfortunately, it is becoming a common phenomenon nowadays. One fine morning, land owners to their utter horror notice excavators and similar cutting machines of the goons of local brick field owners scooping up top soil from their land. Sometimes they do not even inform them about their intention.
In return the thugs offer a nominal price to the owners along with a message to keep their mouth shut. Such blatant show of power by the local unscrupulous middlemen usually happens during the tenure of political governments when the local administration remains quiet for obvious reasons.
We wonder how it can even happen in a civilized society. Aren’t there proper laws to protect the lands and punish the culprits? No doubt there are laws and there are government officials to supervise and prevent such crimes. But where are they? It is happening despite frequent publication of reports in various media outlets mentioning names of brickfields and owners who mastermind such crimes. The soil goes to the brickfields to make bricks as demands spiral every day in the urban areas. It goes without saying that many palms need to be greased to stay in the business.
According to the agronomists, the top soil contains all the minerals needed to maintain the nutrition level of the crops but the lower-level soil does not contain such minerals. It is reported that removal of the surface soil six inches deep causes drastic fall in crop production for the next three to four years. They point out that the chemical elements of top soil remain concentrated from 8-10 inches to 1.5 feet of the soil.
Therefore, if this soil is cut away, the land will lose its fertility. We therefore can imagine the damages done when the top soil is removed from the land. The added problem of stagnation of rain water in the land with top six inches missing comes during the rainy season. The huge cavity begins to contain rain or flood water and the owners have to engage extra workers to remove the excess water, which means spending extra money.
We believe this is a part of organised crime. The brickfield owners select lands that are slightly raised above other surrounding lands and accordingly contact the owners to strike a deal. The willing owners are offered between Tk12,000 to Tk15,000 for earth from per 720 square feet of land. Brickfield owners never confess to twisting the arms of the land owners for top soil. But many reports suggest force being applied to owners by the rough elements having political backing. Some land owners however confess to the media that they sell top soil when they do not get a good price of their crop.
What is more distressing is the fact that some brickfield owners are even paying a nominal price to land owners to cut large ponds on their land, promising more profit through cultivating fish. The pond thus yields tons of earth for making bricks.
As said above, the entire land mass of a country belongs to the state. One may till the land and cultivate crops for a number of years. Just as no one can cut down a hill or dig a canal without the permission of the government, no one also can change the topography of a particular landscape by cutting the top soil for profit. Therefore, such criminal activities must be stopped without further delay.
The writer is a senior journalist
