Dhaka – The government has ordered the closure of 24 leisure resorts established beside the Sundarbans mangrove forest, officials said on Tuesday.
They were accused of operating the resorts without permission from the Directorate of Environment, said Khandaker Md Fazlul Haque, director of the department’s Khulna divisional office.
He said the government banned the operations of 18 resorts in Khulna district, two in Bagerhat district, and four in Satkhira district.
Lying on the bank of the Bay of Bengal, the Sundarbans mangrove forest is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites and one of the largest such forests in the world, stretching across 10,277 square kilometers of land.
Bangladesh and India jointly host the forest, which is intersected by a complex network of tidal rivers, mudflats, and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forest, and presents an excellent example of ongoing ecological processes, according to UNESCO.
The UN agency says the area is known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Bengal tiger, and other endangered species. The estuarine crocodile and Indian python are among the threatened species, it added.
Unplanned establishment of so-called eco-resorts beside the mangrove forest and unchecked travel by countless domestic tourists in the Sundarbans have long been criticized by environmental groups.
They argued that such establishments threatened the ecology and environment of the forest, despite the fact that these destinations recently had become popular among travelers.
Fazlul Haque said the resorts had earlier been served with notices to explain why their operations should not be banned in the forest.
