August 1944. English period. It has been very hot for several days. A train is going from Jessore to Khulna, it is mid afternoon. Left Singia station a little earlier, Chengutia station ahead. Coal-powered trains therefore have no rest time for the driver and his assistants. The main driver is a half Englishman, John Morris Sarkar. Father Bengali mother British.
Mr. Morris suddenly noticed a humdo tiger lying on the railway line a little distance away. Royal Bengal Tiger. Maurice cried out in great exasperation,
-Stop the train!! Stop the train!!!
He stopped the train by himself. But the tiger has no heldol. He lay there with his eyes closed.
Maurice Saheb fell into deep thought. If you run the train over the tiger, there will be a big accident, loss of life and property, and on the other hand, you have to reach the destination on time. Because there is no late mark in his career. Chengutia station is ahead but it is impossible to go there by tiger dinghy. So he left the train to his assistant and ran towards the exiting Singia station.
Hearing Mr. Maurice’s complaint, Station Master Haran Mukhuj immediately wired Toretakka to the zonal office.
After three months, Mukhuj’s telegram reached the Sealda office, headquarters of the Eastern Railway, after visiting these ghats and ghats for decision. For another three months, the message went to the Ministry of Railways after going round and round the table.
The Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Railways was William Platt, a railway official. So based on that cable a new file was opened and on the instructions of Mr. Platt that file started running. As per the custom, the file went down once from the top to eat the sign and then went up again with Dista Dista advice. Finally, one day Mr. Plat took the pen in his hand to sign the final decision on that file. Just at that moment his Penchut Bengali PA Dasbabu said, Sir please don’t sign, this file has to be sent to the Forest Ministry. Because the tiger is the wealth of the forest. We cannot make any decision without their opinion.
By the way, the file changed direction and went to the Ministry of Forests. Meanwhile, the country became independent in 1947. The tiger file is supposed to go to the Ministry of Forests of East Pakistan. But it didn’t happen. It took three years to decide whether Singhia and Chengutiya fell in West Bengal, India or East Pakistan.
Finally in 1950 East Pakistan Forest Ministry got the tiger file and as usual the file went into hibernation. After 10 years, the sleep of the file was disturbed by the hand of Rahimuddin, the new clerk of the Ministry of Forests. Rahim’s father Karimuddin was also a clerk during the British era. Karim said to his son,
– Listen, Dad, I will re-open a closed file after joining. Then make a wall around your table with the remaining files. Then keep any file open and sleep with oil in the nose.
Rahimuddin opened the file of the tiger while obeying his father’s order and fell asleep himself, it was 1960. However, as there was no direct lobbying, the file went from bottom to top, from top to bottom and finally before it was sent to the Ministry of Railways with the opinion of the Secretary, the great liberation war began.
In independent Bangladesh in 1972, before the file went from the forest to the railway, someone gave a note, ‘All the forests of Singia and Chengutiya have been cleared. Now the entire area has gone under the Ministry of Lands. So their opinion should be taken.’
Vyas file went to land ministry. Bhumi also quickly surveyed and researched and sent their opinion to the Ministry of Railways in 1973. In 74, the decision of the Chief Secretary of Railways was signed. After three months, Hasmat Mridha, the current master of Singia station, received a letter from the head office. There is only one word written on it,
“Kill the Tiger”
After receiving the letter, Husu Master could not decide whether to laugh or cry and ran to lawyer friend Ukil Ali. After two days of deliberation, Hasu Master wrote the answer to that letter and sent it to the head office.
-“How? Where’s Tiger? Where’s Gun?”
Following Vyas Hasmat’s letter, file manipulation started again. From bottom to top, top to bottom, ministry to ministry, department to department, lasted 10 years.
In 1984, Matin Sardar, the new Master of Singia Station, received a long parcel. Sent from the head office in his name. From inside the parcel came a double-barreled gun and a written instruction
“Now Kill the Tiger”
The next day, a picture of Moti Master with a gun was printed in the local newspaper of Khulna. With the caption “What will you do with a gun without bullets Master?”
According to the latest news, the necessary instructions have not yet reached the ammunition supply office. Tiger killing has already been banned.
