At present 1.65 lakh trees are on the campus out of 2.5 lakh planted earlier.

Of the existing trees, 1.27 lakh were planted by the Institute of Forestry and around 38,000 by the Department of Botany under.

A total of 501 acres of land have been brought under tree plantation programme out of 1,264 acres acquired for the project, where 120 rare varieties of trees were planted. But most of the rare varieties are on the verge of extinction.

CU Tree Plantation Office sources said, at present there are 48,000 saleable timber trees and 43,000 cluster species trees in the garden, valued at Tk five crore. Most of the thieves are from nearby villages, sources said.

CU Chief Plantation Officer Mohammad Kamal Uddin said the plunder is rampant due to lack of proper security.

Dr Kamal Hossain, Director of the Institute of Forest and Environment Science (IFES) of the University, said a proposal by the the CU authorities to sell some 3,900 trees of cluster species is awaiting approval by the CU Senate.

He requested the CU authorities, teachers, students and all concerned to protect the resources.

When contacted, a CU security official spoke of shortage of security personnel for which they could not keep watch on the vast open area properly.

VC Prof Nuruddin Chowdhury said proper security will be arranged to protest the trees.