Will Altadighi come back to life?

According to folklore, King Vishwanath dug a lake to address the people's drinking water problem, prompted by his queen's dream. The queen's stipulation was that the lake should be dug as far as she could walk barefoot. When the queen continued walking over a mile, the king's ministers intervened fearing a near impossible lake digging project. They stopped her by sprinkling alta (red dye) on her feet, claiming she was bleeding.

The king then dug the lake from the starting point to where the queen stopped. And that's how the lake -- Altadighi -- came into existence in Naogaon around the 13th century. Another version suggests it was actually the king's mother, not his wife, who inspired the digging and the lake was dug during 10th century.

The lake spans 42.81 acres with dimensions of 1.20km length and 0.20km width. Over time, it began to dry up, with the water level dropping to as low as three feet.

Surrounding the lake, trees of various species were planted on 652.37 acres of land.

The forest department declared 264.12 hectares around the lake as "Altadighi National Park" in December 2011.

Additionally, 17.34 hectares of forest adjacent to the park were designated as a Special Biodiversity Conservation Area by the forest department on June 9 2016. The forest was a home to a vast species of wildlife.

Despite not being at its former grandeur, the lake used to be adorned with shapla flowers. However, things changed three years ago when the forest department initiated a Tk 6.49 crore project, funded by the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund, to restore and conserve biodiversity at Altadighi.

The project, titled "Restoration and conservation of biodiversity of Altadighi National Park by re-excavating Altadighi ', commenced in December 2021, scheduled to conclude by December 2024.

Expenditures include Tk 9.20 lakh for draining the pond and Tk 472.39 lakh for re-excavating.

Besides, paved roads will be built within the park. The project aimed to improve water availability, enhance forest management, ecotourism, and employment opportunities.

For this the entire pond has been drained. However, what sparked more concerns among environmentalists and social media users is the felling of over a 1,000 trees around the pond, supposedly as part of the project.

The forest department defends this action, citing that the trees obstructed necessary excavation work of the shallow reservoir.

Moreover, they said the felled trees, primarily eucalyptus and akashmoni, are detrimental to the environment and will be replaced by 3,000 trees of local varieties.

Additionally, they note that the felled trees were part of social forestation initiatives and are replaced according to regulations.

Thus far, 546 eucalyptus and 456 akasmoni trees have been felled as part of the project, generating Tk 35,95,256 through tender sales.

However, many concerned citizens said the felling extended beyond these invasive plant species and the shal trees were also targeted. But this newspaper could not independently verify this claim.

IT WAS NOT PART OF THE PLAN!

What raised most eyebrows is the fact that the deforestation exceeded the scope of the project.

The Daily Star has a copy of the original project plan. It also revealed that no prior assessment on biodiversity, habitat, and environmental impact was included as part of the project.

However, environmentalists say that such assessments are a must before felling trees from a forest.

However, Md Rafiquzzaman Shah, the project's director, disagrees. "Such assessment is not compulsory in projects below Tk 50 crore," he said.

When asked why trees were felled beyond the project's scope, Shah, also divisional forest officer (DFO) of Rajshahi, said, "Re-excavation and renovation works were not possible without felling the trees."

MA Taher, managing director of Acumen Architects and Planners Limited, the consultant firm for the project, said, "When we started, the pond was already dried up. It was nothing but a swampy area."

The re-excavating project is almost finished, with the pond's depth now reaching 2.50 meters, according to the DFO.

Once completed, Altadighi will return to its green state and provide opportunities for biodiversity conservation, he added.

Meanwhile, locals alleged that trees were felled beyond the project's designated boundaries.

But both the forest department and those implementing this project refuted such claims.

BEFORE AND AFTER

In just three years since the project began, two viral images of Altadighi captured before and after the project began depicted a drastic transformation, from a lush green area with the pond at its centre to a barren landscape.

"The loss is immense; without data, we can't comprehend what's vanished," said Prof Sabrina Naz, director of the Environmental Science Institute at Rajshahi University.

Prof ABM Mohsin, chairman of RU Fisheries Department, said, "Drying up the pond would have killed all aquatic life that lived there."

However, Lutfar Rahman, a 60-year-old farmer, said, "Altadighi forest used to boast diverse wildlife. But native trees were replaced with eucalyptus, and the pond became shallower, causing the disappearance of foxes, mongooses, fishing cats, snakes, big fishes, and even migratory birds."

THREAT OF ALIEN PLANTS

The forest department is right in saying that the eucalyptus and akashmoni trees are a threat to biodiversity. But when asked, they could not come up with a satisfactory answer on why those trees were planted in this forest in the first place.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recorded 44 exotic plant species in five protected areas in Bangladesh. Among them, seven species have significant harmful environmental impacts.

In the 1980s, two foreign plant species -- eucalyptus and akhashmoni -- were widely planted in rural Bangladesh for fast-growing timber and a chance to earn quick money.

Later, the forest department included these two alien species in its social forestry scheme, aimed at reforestation of areas where forest coverage is depleted.

"Planting and cutting down trees like eucalyptus is a known corruption tactic, despite widespread discouragement," stated Prof Md Redwanur Rahman of RU's Environmental Science Institute.

Meanwhile, Prof Sabrina Naz questioned, "Why were those trees planted initially? Why aren't local varieties planted before removing them?"