150 hills and hillocks misclassified in land records, cut down across region

From Boro Dighi Par in Hathazari, if you take the connecting road towards Bhatiary, just past the no. 3 Bazar, a massive hill rises on the western side of the road, standing 50 to 60 feet tall. At the base, a cluster of semi-permanent houses has sprung up. A glance through the gate reveals that the foot of the hill is being cut away to expand the settlement.

Yet, despite being clearly visible, the Bangladesh Survey (BS) records classify this hill at no. 3 Bazar as nal land. According to the local land office, the hill in Jungle Dakkhin Pahartali mouza, recorded under BS plot no. 3573, spans about 7.5 acres. Due to a survey error, this privately owned hill has been listed as “nal land”, though the term refers to flat, low-lying farmland.

At least 150 hills and hillocks, covering some 1,400 acres, across Chattogram city and the neighbouring upazilas of Hathazari and Sitakunda have been wrongly classified in the BS survey.

Some were entirely misclassified, others partially, recorded as shankhola (land with grass-like plants), nal, khila (fallow land), or bari (homestead land).

Exploiting these errors, many are cutting down hills for construction.

According to the Land Ministry website, the BS survey began in 1970. Under Bangladesh’s amended Environmental Conservation Act, “hill” or “hillock” refers to naturally elevated landforms composed of soil, stone, gravel, or other hard substances that rise above surrounding flat terrain, and which are listed as hills in official records.

Land officials explained that areas overgrown with shrubs called Shan are classified as shankhola, while uncultivated or fallow land is called khila.

The 2010 amendment to the Environmental Conservation Act prohibits hill cutting, except in cases of national interest with clearance from the Department of Environment (DoE). However, when a hill is misclassified in land records, stopping its destruction becomes more difficult.

Sonia Sultana, director of DoE’s Chattogram metropolitan office, told Prothom Alo that when misclassified hills are cut, legal enforcement becomes complicated. “Even if we file cases, the courts give more weight to the official land record classification than physical reality.”

State prosecutor Humayun Kabir Talukder, who represents the DoE in Chattogram’s environmental court, said, “If land records show it as a hill, executive officers can take immediate action. But when it is recorded otherwise, proving it in court becomes extremely difficult. Offenders often get away simply because of errors in the records.”

Last year, the Chattogram Hill Management Committee decided that the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) would not approve building plans on hills.

But CDA officials admit that due to misclassification and staff shortages, they often approve construction based on paperwork alone, allowing developers to exploit loopholes and level hills for new buildings.

In Askardighi Par, a 127-foot-high site known locally as “Grindlays Bank Hill” was classified in the BS survey as bari (homestead) over 0.579 acres.

Exploiting this, CDA approved a multistoried building there in 2022 with 87 conditions, including a ban on hill cutting. Yet much of the hill has since been cut away, with construction of at least six floors already completed—despite multiple government raids confirming the illegal activity.

Similarly, Ruposhi Hill in West Khulshi, about 40 feet high, was classified as shankhola. Taking advantage, developers cut into the hill to prepare housing plots.

On 13 November last year, DoE conducted a raid and fined those involved. But officials admit that when hills are recorded as shankhola, environmental laws offer weaker grounds for action, and court battles become drawn out—leaving many officials reluctant to pursue cases.

Dozens of other misclassified hills across Chattogram have been cut down for housing and commercial plots, including government-owned ones.

DoE has filed some cases, but there are no updated statistics on how many misclassified hills have already been destroyed.

A study by SM Sirajul Haque of Chittagong University’s Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, using Google Earth imagery, found that by 2012, hills covering 1,295 hectares in Chattogram had been cut down. In 1976, hills spanned 32.37 sq km of the city; by 2008, this had shrunk to 14.2 sq km, a 57 per cent reduction.

In Hathazari’s no. 3 Bazar area, a road cuts through the middle of a high hill, leading to another hill known locally as Moishamura. This hill, 50–100 feet tall and covered in thick vegetation, is officially classified as shankhola—despite being visibly a hill.

In central Chattogram near Probortok intersection, a 24.5-acre hilly area has been recorded as bari, even though it is topped with temples, shops, and other establishments.

Roufabad, Bayezid, Mia’s Hill—privately owned—is partly recorded as nal. At its base, settlements have sprung up, while its slopes show signs of landslides.

Nearby, Tankir Hill has over 3.5 acres recorded as bari, while Mir Hasan’s Hill, adjacent to the Forest Research Institute, has 96 decimals recorded as khila.

In Chattogram, the highest number of hills and hillocks recorded under different land-use categories are in Hathazari upazila. More than 1,200 acres of hilly land here have been registered under classifications such as shankhola, jungle, nal (low land), bagan (garden), and khila (fallow).

Over 250 plots (BS survey numbers) of these misclassified hills are located in the mouzas of Jungle Uttar Pahartali, Jungle Dakkhin Pahartali, Jalalabad, Chhoto Kanchanpur, and Jungle Udalia. Some of these hills, under the jurisdiction of the Hathazari land office, even lie within Chattogram city.

According to Hathazari land office records, plot BS-153 in Jungle Uttar Pahartali covers 103 acres of land that are actually hills but were recorded as bagan (garden). Similarly, about 83 acres of hilly land under four khatians in plot 3066 of Jungle Dakkhin Pahartali were recorded as shankhola in the BS survey.

In the adjacent Sitakunda upazila, several hills were also classified differently. Sources at the Sitakunda land office confirm that at least 85.77 acres of hilly land have been recorded as shankhola. These cover 38 plots across Jungle Salimpur, Jungle Latifpur, and Jungle Bhatiari mouzas.

In one instance, more than eight acres of hilly land in plot BS-531 of Jungle Bhatiari were recorded as shankhola. Sitakunda is one of the most affected areas outside Chattogram city in terms of hill cutting.

In the Jungle Salimpur area alone, more than 100 hills have been cut over recent decades to make way for housing settlements, most of them on government land.

Land grabber groups, under the guise of “landless people,” have been cutting and selling these hills for years.

Within Chattogram city itself, under the Chandgaon land office, at least 34.43 acres of hilly land have been recorded as bari (homestead), khila (fallow), or nal (low land).

Similarly, at least 21.1 acres of hills under the Kattoli land circle have been misclassified. Though much of the land there was marked as hillocks, residential areas have sprung up in reality.

Under the Bakalia land circle, 8.17 acres of hilly land were recorded in the BS survey as bari, nal, or dhālu (sloping land).

After on-site inspections, the Department of Environment (DoE) confirmed 27 instances of hills being recorded under other classifications such as shankhola and bita.

Between 17 August and 19 November last year, DoE officials inspected these sites, later notifying the Director General of the DoE in a 24 December letter. The letter included a list of the 27 misclassified locations.

The list shows eight such hills in Purbapahartali mouza, six in Uttar Pahartali, four in Purba Nasirabad, with the rest in Jalalabad and Paschim Solosahar.

Earlier this year, at the 30th meeting of the Chattogram Hill Management Committee, the issue of hills being misclassified came up.

A representative from the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) said that while CDA does not approve building plans on land identified as hills—even if privately owned—misclassification in land records makes hill cutting possible.

When contacted, Md Mominur Rashid, Director (Land Records) of the Directorate of Land Records and Surveys, admitted that this is not limited to Chattogram. During a recent visit to Sylhet, similar allegations surfaced—plots that were actually hills being recorded under other categories.

Chattogram Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Md Sadi ur Rahim Zaidid also acknowledged the issue.

Speaking to Prothom Alo recently, he said a list of misclassified hills in Chattogram is being prepared, and once complete, steps will be taken to reclassify them properly as hilly land.

In Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, hill cutting has long been practiced for settlement and other purposes. There is no reliable data on exactly when hill cutting began in Chattogram city, but historians believe it started in 1760 with the arrival of the East India Company.

In 1961, a master plan for Chattogram divided the city into four zones and recommended cutting some hills and removing soil to make new settlements. This triggered an increase in hill cutting in the 1970s, which reached alarming levels in the following decade.

After independence, Chattogram port became the hub of the country’s imports and exports, increasing population pressure on the city and accelerating hill cutting. In 1990, the city’s population stood at 2.35 million within 156 square kilometers. Today, according to the City Corporation, the population in the same area is close to 7 million.

Researchers note that hills act as anchors for tectonic plates, helping reduce seismic activity on the surface. Their disappearance increases risks of environmental disasters, including the loss of wildlife habitats.

Professor Alok Paul of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Chattogram University told Prothom Alo that hills are crucial to maintaining environmental balance. They are not only linked to human livelihoods but also serve as shelter for diverse species.

Hill cutting, he warned, disrupts biodiversity, damages the food chain, and reduces green cover while filling up canals and lowlands, leading to hotter temperatures and other crises.

Alok Paul recommended a dedicated survey for the conservation of hills and hillocks.