Sand traders are lifting sand at their will though it is strictly prohibited near strategic installations.

Sand is being lifted by using dredgers within 50 metres of the town protection dam and the Brahmaputra Bridge, which is very harmful for them, sources said.

This correspondent during a visit to the area gathered that a businessman is lifting sand from the eastern side of the Brahmaputra Bridge at Char Kalibari to fill up a plot of land. He hung a signboard in the name of a contractor of Bangladesh Army. Sources there said the businessman is lifting sand without any permission from the Roads and Highways Department (RHD). Asked by this correspondent, the businessman claimed that he took permission from the local RHD office.

RHD Executive Engineer Md Dalil Uddin said local RHD did not give any permission to the businessman or any other sand traders from the 'restricted' area of the river.

Another so-called lease holder and owner of a dredger, who is a former leader of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, said he is lifting sand after taking permission from the mineral resources ministry.

Asked whether it is risky to lift sand from a spot close to Brahmaputra Bridge, he said the ministry did not demarcate any area. Neither the local administration nor the RHD put any bar on lifting sand from the area close to heavy establishments, he pleaded.

Another sand trader lifting sand from a nearby area close to the bridge also claimed that the authorities did not demarcate any spot for sand lifting.

Superintendent Engineer of local Water Development Board (WDP) Abul Kasem said sand lifting or earth digging within 50 meters of the town protection dam and the Brahmaputra Bridge is 'very risky'.

Sand should be not be lifted within three meters of the main stream of the river to avoid erosion, he said.

Debendra Nath, a resident of Patgodam, said a section of businessmen lift sand from the area every year but the administration does not take any action. The sand lifters argue that they dredge newly emerged under-water shoals, Debendra Nath said.

Mymensingh Deputy Commissioner Md Shamsul Alam said a survey is on and a committee has been formed to probe lease of area for sand lifting. Action will be take against illegal sand lifters, he added.

Shafiqul Islam Shafi, president of Prayrona, an environmentalists' organisation, said they organised protests, formed human chains and submitted memorandum to the local administration to stop indiscriminate sand lifting from Brahmaputra but to no effect.

He said the illegal sand lifting is threatening the town protection dam and the Brahmaputra Bridge. The illegal work may change the course of the river one day and bring a disaster for the whole area, he said.