Bagerhat: After widespread criticisms by local people and environment activists, authorities have started destroying the huge oil-stained wastes, dumped in bamboo enclosures at Chandpai of the Sundarban following the huge oil-spill in December last year.

The oil-stained wastes, mostly oil-stained water hyacinth and shrubs, in six enclosures built at Chandpai village of the Sundarbans East Zone, were removed from the village on Monday night, Forest Department officials told UNB.

A 30-member team comprising Forest Department officials and volunteers shifted the oil-stained wastes by carrying the load in 880 sacks and loading those in a cargo. The cargo carried the wastes to a brick kiln at Sanyashi in Morelganj upazila for burning those out.

The waste is now being burned in the brick kiln, the officials said.

Khulna University Forestry and Wood Technology professor Mahmud Hossain warned that the oil-stained wastes could be detrimental to the environment and should be disposed off carefully.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) of the Forest Department Amir Hossain Chowdhury said about 20 tonnes of wastes have been dumped in the six bamboo enclosures and the department is burning all those to ashes as per experts’ recommendation.

On 9 December, an oil tanker carrying some 3.57 lakh litres of furnace oil crashed in the Shela River at Mrigmari under the East Zone of the Sundarbans after being hit by a cargo vessel, causing a serious threat to the existence of the mangrove forest and its natural resources due to the oil spill.

According to the Forest Department officials, only 68,200 litres of the spilled out oil could be recovered from the Shela River and its adjacent canals through manual scooping.