Dhaka District Administration and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority [BIWTA] in a joint drive on Tuesday evicted 85 illegal makeshift structures built encroaching the bank of Buriganga river at Keraniganj, on the outskirts of the city.
The eviction drive was conducted around two kilometers area stretching from Equria-Ainta- Daleshwar to Pangaon moujas under Keraniganj thana.
Led by Executive Magistrate Rahat Mannan, the drive continued from 10:00am to 4:00pm where BIWTA Joint Director Guljar Ali, and Deputy Director Mizanur Rahman, were among others, also present at that time.
Of the evicted establishments, there were two two-storey buildings, 31 one-storey buildings and seven shops. With the eviction, around one acre land of the Buriganga river was recovered.
There is widespread allegation that the encroachment of river by influential quarters is still going on unabated. There are still hundreds of temporary and permanent structures on both the banks of the Buriganga river defying the court’s order.
As an eyewash, the BIWTA allegedly conducted eviction drives sometimes against encroachment, as none of the big establishments on the riverbank have been evicted till date.
Particularly, the encroachment of the river is unabated in Basila, Kamrangir Char, Kamalbagh and Islampur. Besides, several slums, shanties, dockyards and boat-building factories have also sprung up on both banks of the river. The illegal grabbers have set up commercial establishments just opposite to Sadarghat terminal and many parts of the river at Keraniganj part.
Sources said that many major property builders getting permission from Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha [RAJUK] are reclaiming land from rivers to build housing complexes, where RAJUK has allegedly ignored their own policies and guidelines.
Not only that, the aquatic environment of Buriganga is currently dead due to chronic pollution. Especially, the toxic waste and sludge generated by textile, dyeing, printing, washing and pharmaceuticals industries, household and medical waste, sewage, dead animals, plastic and oil are also major pollutants of the river. To restore Buriganga and three other rivers flowing through Dhaka, the High Court in a landmark order in June 2009 directed the government by installing boundary pillars after evicting all illegal structures built by the encroachers upon the river.
