The High Court has ordered authorities in Muradnagar, Cumilla, to submit a progress report on implementing measures to stop the extraction of fertile soil from agricultural land. The order was issued on Monday by a division bench of Justice JBM Hasan and Justice Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan following a public-interest writ petition filed by Advocate Md Abul Kalam Azad.

The court directed the Upazila Nirbahi Officer and Assistant Commissioner (Land) to seize dredgers and equipment used to excavate fertile soil, shut illegal brickfields, and investigate cultivated land and sand pits damaged by dredging. It also called for a time-bound action plan to protect farmland and measures to restore pits created through soil cutting and dredging to their previous agricultural condition.

The order requires progress reports from the Cumilla deputy commissioner, police superintendent, Muradnagar UNO, AC Land, and officers-in-charge of Muradnagar and Bangra Bazar police stations. The petitioner, who heads the Agriculture and Environment Foundation, said local residents had long sought action against illegal dredgers and brickfields, while local journalists had reported on the issue.