Over two hundred trees, including mahogany, shishu, rain tree and jackfruit, along the 4.34km stretch of road from the town to the railway station are being cut down for widening the road.  During the cutting of these trees, accidents have taken place and severe traffic jams are also occurring regularly.

 A woman was killed when a log fell on her while workers were cutting trees near Tangon Bridge on Station Road in the town recently. The victim was identified as Nurun Nahar, 38, wife of Bablu of Collegepara in the municipality area. Three persons were arrested by the police in this connection.

The roads and highways department (RHD) floated a tender on September 6 for widening the road under the "Improvement of important regional highways to appropriate standard and width (Rangpur Zone)" project, at a cost of Tk. 63 crore, said Joy Prokash Chowdhury, district sub-divisional engineer of the RHD.

 To implement the project, the RHD in Rangpur gave orders for cutting down trees to two contractors, who won the bid by offering the highest price for the trees.

During a visit to the spot on Monday, this correspondent saw workers chopping down trees.

 Spreading branches of the trees on either side of the road served as a beautiful canopy over the road.

Many trees could have been saved had the trees on one side been kept, said Ramjan Ali, who lives near the road in Gobindanagar.

A local cultural activist, Saiful Islam Probal Chowdhury, said the felling of trees should be discouraged to protect the natural beauty and environment. Besides, people passing through the road are suffering immensely during the cutting of trees.

Even accidents have occurred in the area recently.

The executive engineer of the local government engineering department (LGED) of Thakurgaon, Kanteswar Barman, said the road will be widened in such a way that many trees will be saved.

The RHD planted the trees after constructing the road in 1988. Over 1,000 trees will be planted along the road after the widening work is completed. It is risky to plant large trees in the middle of the road, Joy Prokash said.

Contractor Dipak Kumar Roy engaged workers for cutting the trees after winning a tender bid of the RHD. "We are trying to finish the work as soon as possible. The sufferings of travellers will end soon," he said.