Reza Mahmud :
While several government agencies particularly the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) have been conducting eviction drives in Dhaka and other areas around the city, many grabbers are re-occupying other points of some river’s banks piling garbage with the blessing of vested quarter.
Observers therefore term such eviction drives as ‘eyewash’.
“If the authorities monitor honestly, it will be impossible to occupy or pollute any river,” Urban Planner Adil Mohammad Khan, the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Planners Institution told The New Nation on Wednesday.
He said, all the grabbers are influential persons. Besides, officials of the government’s authorities are shamefully bow down to those influential and that is why the riverbank occupying has not ended after numbers of eviction drives conducted by various bodies.
It has found that both the banks of the Turag River become vulnerable to the illegal grabbers.
Locals said that the grabbers first started dumping garbage on their targeted points on the river bank.
“The grabbers gradually pile up different types of solid garbage on the bank of the river to establish makeshift shop. Then it turns an identity of the grabber’s land,” said a resident of Tongi Bazar area preferring anonymity.
He said this trick to occupy riverbank land is followed by all occupiers.
“The grabbers are influential or musclemen. So, we cannot say them anything.
Even the administration also fail to evict them finally,” said another resident of the same area on condition of anonymity.
It is evident that both banks of the Turag river from Ashulia to Badam, Kamara Para, Tongi Bazar Bridge, Raja Bari, Pagar to the Shitalakkhya have become shrunken due to piling of huge waste by the grabbers.
On the other hand, the BIWTA on Monday conducted an eviction drive near Kamarpara bridge on the riverbank.
The authority has demolished more than 100 illegal structures during the daylong drive.
In the meantime, BIWTA also conducted another drive one week ago and fined a factory Tk 5 lakh and collected a total Tk 1.53 crore by auctioning the factory equipment on the spot
during its operation of a mobile court.
Executive Magistrate SM Shah Habibur Rahman said that Lamisa Knitting, which was previously evicted in April, was fined Tk 5 lakh for illegally re-occupying the river using infilling.
The authority also seized four excavators and 10 dredgers used for further infilling of the river near Dhaur Bridge in Ashulia and reclaimed three acres of the river land evicting 40 establishments.
AKM Arif Uddin, the Joint Director of the BIWTA said that mobile court operations would continue the eviction of illegal grabbers of the river land.
The Joint Director said that they have evicted many structures during its drives in April, but many of the grabbers returned to reoccupy the land.
When contacted, Adil Mohammad Khan said, “It is the nature of the illegal grabbers that they reoccupy the rivers banks especially in urban areas.”
He said, “Without strong political will, the grabbing of river lands will not be ended. The rivers surrounding the capital or other areas would not get lives without proper monitoring of the responsible bodies.”
He also urged the civil society to be aware and help the government bodies to keep the rivers alive.
When contacted, Urban Planner Architect Iqbal Habib told The New Nation, “It is a must to strengthen the River Commission giving it lone guardianship to protect rivers and enough legal power to take action against grabbers.”
He said the exercise of different authorities to forsee navigability, pollutions and occupations must go. It is a must to ensure a lone body to monitor every side of rivers to protect them from being dead.
While several government agencies particularly the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) have been conducting eviction drives in Dhaka and other areas around the city, many grabbers are re-occupying other points of some river’s banks piling garbage with the blessing of vested quarter.
Observers therefore term such eviction drives as ‘eyewash’.
“If the authorities monitor honestly, it will be impossible to occupy or pollute any river,” Urban Planner Adil Mohammad Khan, the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Planners Institution told The New Nation on Wednesday.
He said, all the grabbers are influential persons. Besides, officials of the government’s authorities are shamefully bow down to those influential and that is why the riverbank occupying has not ended after numbers of eviction drives conducted by various bodies.
It has found that both the banks of the Turag River become vulnerable to the illegal grabbers.
Locals said that the grabbers first started dumping garbage on their targeted points on the river bank.
“The grabbers gradually pile up different types of solid garbage on the bank of the river to establish makeshift shop. Then it turns an identity of the grabber’s land,” said a resident of Tongi Bazar area preferring anonymity.
He said this trick to occupy riverbank land is followed by all occupiers.
“The grabbers are influential or musclemen. So, we cannot say them anything.
Even the administration also fail to evict them finally,” said another resident of the same area on condition of anonymity.
It is evident that both banks of the Turag river from Ashulia to Badam, Kamara Para, Tongi Bazar Bridge, Raja Bari, Pagar to the Shitalakkhya have become shrunken due to piling of huge waste by the grabbers.
On the other hand, the BIWTA on Monday conducted an eviction drive near Kamarpara bridge on the riverbank.
The authority has demolished more than 100 illegal structures during the daylong drive.
In the meantime, BIWTA also conducted another drive one week ago and fined a factory Tk 5 lakh and collected a total Tk 1.53 crore by auctioning the factory equipment on the spot
during its operation of a mobile court.
Executive Magistrate SM Shah Habibur Rahman said that Lamisa Knitting, which was previously evicted in April, was fined Tk 5 lakh for illegally re-occupying the river using infilling.
The authority also seized four excavators and 10 dredgers used for further infilling of the river near Dhaur Bridge in Ashulia and reclaimed three acres of the river land evicting 40 establishments.
AKM Arif Uddin, the Joint Director of the BIWTA said that mobile court operations would continue the eviction of illegal grabbers of the river land.
The Joint Director said that they have evicted many structures during its drives in April, but many of the grabbers returned to reoccupy the land.
When contacted, Adil Mohammad Khan said, “It is the nature of the illegal grabbers that they reoccupy the rivers banks especially in urban areas.”
He said, “Without strong political will, the grabbing of river lands will not be ended. The rivers surrounding the capital or other areas would not get lives without proper monitoring of the responsible bodies.”
He also urged the civil society to be aware and help the government bodies to keep the rivers alive.
When contacted, Urban Planner Architect Iqbal Habib told The New Nation, “It is a must to strengthen the River Commission giving it lone guardianship to protect rivers and enough legal power to take action against grabbers.”
He said the exercise of different authorities to forsee navigability, pollutions and occupations must go. It is a must to ensure a lone body to monitor every side of rivers to protect them from being dead.
