Mongla: The forest department has imposed a ban on entering Sundarban as the recurrence of fire incidents are sparkling in the same place.

East Sundarban zone forest official Saidul Islam said the ban became effective in East Sundarban’s Chandpai range area from Friday morning indefinitely. All kinds of pass-permit will remain under this ban. All the forest dwellers, including the fishermen, bawalis and mowalis, have been asked not to enter the forest.

People, who were staying in the forest before the decision was made, are being requested to leave the forest and their pass-permits have also been banned.

The forest official said the culprits, who were involved in 27 April’s fire incident at Tulatuli area, were indentified and a case will be lodged against them in the forest court on Sunday.

Saidul Islam also claimed blazes in most parts of the range came under control on the third day though smoke fumes from various part of the area. The 27 April fire incident has destroyed around two acres of land on the forest till filing the report.

In a month, at least four fire incidents were recorded in the world’s largest mangrove forest.

In last 14 years, a total of 22 fire incidents were noticed in Chandpai and Sharankhola ranges of Sundarban. These result in hundreds of acres of land being gutted and brought great misery to the flora and fauna of the forest.

Earlier, the Chadpai Range of the Sundarban witnesses four incidents of fire in four weeks, at Dhanshagor station’s Nangli forest camp on 27 March, at Abdullah Shila of the range on 18 April, the third one on 13 April and the fourth one on 27 April. The fire incidents destroyed forest on nearly 10 acres of land.

The forest department and locals claimed the incidents were the acts of sabotage. The department formed a committee to probe the incident and set up five watch teams to avoid such incidents happening again.

The forest department officials and local people complained that an organised group operated the sabotages taking forest officials hostage at gun point. They are so organised and powerful that nobody dares to speak against them. The local people were threatened not to inform media.

22 fire incidents in 14 years

In the last 14 years, there have been 22 fire incidents in Chandpai and Sharankhola ranges of the mangrove forest and causing damage to its unique ecosystem.

The recurring fire incident is posing a threat to the biodiversity of the forest. Soil fertility is declining in the Sundarban due to frequent fires.

According to the residents of the areas, those living nearby the Sundarban often set fire to it to collect firewood. The burnt area goes under water during monsoon and local fishermen use the area for fishing. Fishermen also use the fire-ravaged areas as cattle grazing ground during the dry season.

The first fire incident in Sundarban took place on 22 March 2002 at Katka sanctuary area that destroyed forest on six acres of land. Other fire incidents are 25 and 26 March 2004, April 2005 at Amarbunia, 13 April at Tulatala are in Dhansagar that damaged four acres of land, 3 March 2006 at Dhansagar station compartment in the Chandpai range that destroyed 2.5 acres of land, 19 March 2006 at Terabeka that destroyed 1.5 acres of land, 12 April 2006 at Amarbuniya that burnt 1.5 acres, Kamalteji area on the same day that burnt 1.5 acres, 15 January 2007 at Dumuria camp in the Sharankhola range that destroyed 5.50 acres, 19 and 28 March 2007 at Pochakoralia in the Chandpai range that damaged 10 acres of land, 20 March 2010 at Dhansagar station compartments in the Chandpai range that burnt 5 acres of land, 1, 8 and 9 March 2011 at Nagli area in the Chandpai range that devastated 10 acres of land and the fire incident in 2014 at Shulishakhali camp area in the Chandpai range that burnt 5 acres of land.

The last four fire incidents are happened on 28 March, 13, 18 and 27 Aprilat Dhansagar station’s Nagli, pochagoralia and Tenglar Bil area.

A high-profile UNESCO delegation recently visited the Sundarban to assess the possible impacts of the recent manmade disasters on the mangrove forest.

Besides the fire incidents, a tanker carrying about 350,000 litres of furnace oil crashed in the Shela River on 9 December 2014, while a cargo sank on 19 March 2016.

The Sundarban, a natural habitat to the tiger, crocodile and dolphin, is located in three coastal districts, Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira, covering a stretch of 6,017 square kilometres.