Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Tuesday directed the government to test the WASA supply water in 34 areas at BUET and Dhaka University laboratories.
The court also directed the WASA to pay Tk 5,000 to the committee formed by Local Government and Rural Development Ministry for each test.
The committee has been ordered to submit its report before the court by July 2.
According to the order, the committee will have to collect and test samples of surface water from Buriganga and Shitalakkhya rivers and water from groundwater sources of the rivers.
Besides, the committee will have to collect and examine samples from 10 vulnerable areas, 10 other random areas, and 10 other areas.
The HC bench of Justice J B M Hassan and Justice Khairul Alam passed the order while hearing a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer advocate Tanvir Ahmed.
During the hearing, Professor Sabita Rizwana Rahman, Head of the Micro-Biology Department of DU appeared before the HC bench as per its May 16 order. She told the court that the test report may vary in different seasons. Dhaka WASA earlier on May 16, revealed that its water is polluted in 59 city areas because of broken-down supply lines.
The official water supplier in the city made the admission in a report submitted before the High Court.
The Local Government and Rural Development Ministry submitted the report on behalf of WASA, as per the court’s order on Thursday.
The WASA sent the report, based on consumers’ allegations, to the Ministry the same day.
The report said the WASA would test the water of those areas at the laboratories of Dhaka University, BUET, and ICDDR,B.
