Master plan to be developed for ecotourism in Sylhet

A comprehensive master plan would be developed to promote eco-friendly tourism in Jaflong and other tourist destinations in Sylhet, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan made the disclosure on Saturday.

The master plan would also attach importance to creating alternative employment opportunities for the workers involved in stone extraction in the region, said the adviser while talking to journalists after visiting Jaflong and other neighbouring areas.

"Alternative employment for the people engaged in stone extraction-related works will get due importance," she said, adding the ministries of civil aviation and tourism, power, energy and mineral resources and environment, forest and climate change will work in a coordinated way to implement this plan.

The critically endangered natural sites like Jaflong and others will no longer be leased out for stone extraction, the adviser said.

The government would consult with the stakeholders for working out environment-friendly tourism strategies, she said, adding the normal flow of the rivers had been hampered due to indiscriminate and unauthorised extraction of stone and sand.

Actions are being taken against the illegal stone extractors, she said, warning that legal steps would be taken in future too.

The stone quarries would no longer be leased for extraction in future for the sake of environment, she maintained.

Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said the stone crushers would be removed from the sites since stone extraction had been suspended in Jafflong and other places.

Stone extraction would remain suspended, he asserted, saying, the environmental degradation should be stopped at any cost and the law breakers must face action.

Secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division Mohammad Saiful Islam, Sylhet Divisional Commissioner Khan Md. Rezaul Nabi, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad, Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, Divisional Forest Officer Md. Humayun Kabir, and Director of the Department of Environment, Sylhet Ferdous Anwar, were present, among others.

Earlier, both the advisers visited various sites in Jaflong and talked to locals regarding the environment development programme of the region and tourism sites.

They also planted tree saplings at the Jaflong Stone Museum and Haripur Rest House.