District and sub-district administrations, and other government agencies, hotels, resorts, ships and trawler business people, and tourists are pushing Bangladesh’s only coral-rich island, St. Martin, to its end. This situation reminds us of the folk tale of the greedy farmer who had a duck that laid golden eggs. But there are laws, regulations, directives, administration, environment department and police to protect the island of Saint Martin.
As Prothom Alo reports, being an Environmentally Important Area (ECA) listed by the Department of the Environment, anything that harms St. Martin’s water, soil, air or animals is prohibited there. For this reason, the Environment Department does not issue permission for the construction of any establishment there. However, there are over 230 hotels, resorts, cottages and restaurants, many of which are multi-storeyed. At least 130 of them have been built in the last two years. More than 30 resorts and cottages are now under construction.