Reza Mahmud :
A powerful quarter is trying to encroach banks of Buriganga, filling with huge quantity of garbage everyday. It is also polluting the river water seriously.
Huge waste are being stockpiled also everyday on both banks of the river amid the ongoing eviction drives conducted by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.
“The waste is produced everyday in factories and households across the Kamrangir Char area. But there is no stipulated land to dump that garbage. As a result, the people of the area are throwing their factories and household waste on the river banks everyday,” Alauddin Ahmed, a resident of Koylaghat, Kamrangir Char told The New Nation.
He said, government’s stern action against throwing of garbage can stop such a bad practice.
At the same time, another resident of the area said preferring anonymity, “The garbage throwing is not only for want of dumping place, but for a different target. There are influential persons behind this to fill the riversides with the garbage in order to occupy land, building illegal structures thereon.”
On the spot it has been seen that people are throwing waste like fruits,
plastic sheets, polythene, waste papers, paperboards, rotten fruits, various types of fruits waste and kitchen markets, shops, industries and household garbage on the riverbanks without any hesitation as the ongoing eviction drives have been kept under suspension temporarily. In Sadarghat, Sowarighat, Islambagh, RND Road and Section areas on the north of the Buriganga, and in Ashrafabad, Loharbridge, Koylaghat, Telighat and other areas of Kamrangirchar and Keranigonj on the south of the river were found that huge quantity of garbage were dumped there.
Garbage was also found floating into the river, polluting the water seriously.
The experts also expressed anxiety seeing the terrible condition of the river .
Urban Planner and Architect Iqbal Habib told The New Nation on Thursday, “If the government delays to start its preplanned constructions on the riverbanks, those may be occupied again. It may be needed to evict the illegal structures from the river banks again.”
“We know that the government has a master plan to create forests and to construct walkway besides the river banks. But unfortunately, the project has not been started yet. The government had to start the project early to stop the grabbers from doing grabbing activities,” he said.
Iqbal Habib said, there are reasons of hope that the project will be successful soon and the banks of the river will be totally free from encroachments.
He also urged the government to make people more conscious so that they refrain from throwing garbage into the river.
When contacted, Commodore M Mahbub-ul Islam, Chairman, BIWTA told The New Nation, “A section of dishonest persons are behind dumping garbage on the riversides. We are trying our best to stop such heinous acts and to create consciousness among the people to keep the river protected from grabbing and polluting.”
He said, “Dishonest persons are aiming at grabbing the riversides again by filling the banks with waste. But the government would not allow them anymore.”
He said that the ongoing eviction drive, suspended for few days, would be resumed by Tuesday next.
Earlier, BIWTA on January 29, started the eviction drives to demolish illegal structures for setting up the establishments violating the demarcation line of the river Buriganga.
Hundreds of illegal structures have been demolished so far during this drives.
