Staff Reporter :
The Sundarbans is now facing a major environmental disaster as river water will reduce the level of dissolved oxygen, ecology and biodiversity after a vessel carrying over 350,000 litres of furnace oil capsized in Sela River.
With various authorities, who neither have the experience nor the capability to handle such a case, trying to pass the responsibility on to each other instead of making a move, the situation is getting worse.
The route that the capsized vessel took is prohibited for all kinds of large vessels. Researchers and pro-environment groups have for many years been repeatedly warning the government against the use of this route.
Water resources expert Ainun Nishat told The New Nation yesterday: “Sundarbans is in big trouble. Our first priority should be preventing the oil spill immediately.”
The Sela River is known as a sanctuary for sweet-water Irawaddy and brackish-water Ganges dolphins. So, these marine creatures will be the first in the line of victims of the oil spill.
“They will soon find breathing hard because the thick layer of oil over the river water will reduce the level of dissolved oxygen,” ecology and biodiversity researcher Pavel Partha told The New Nation.
As a coastal mangrove forest, the vegetation in the Sundarbans gets inundated twice a day by high tides. Now that there is oil, as water recedes with low tide, the oil will remain on the vegetation and the forest topsoil.
The vegetation is the main food of various kinds of deer that live in the dense forest surrounding the river. The deer, in turn, is one of the main foods of the Bengal tigers. So, in the long run, the population of deer and tigers – the two best known animals from the Sundarbans – will be affected. The mangrove ecosystem of Sundarbans is primarily made up of four kinds of salt-water trees: Sundari, Kewra, Goran, Poshur and Gol. These trees reproduce from the windfall seeds that fall on the ground.
As oil settles on the forest topsoil, these seeds will die and in the long run, the regeneration of the Sundarbans will be badly affected. That in turn will put the deer and different types of primates in trouble who depend on these trees for living.
These windfall seeds are the staple food of Pungash fish that also inhabit the Sela waters. This fish again is one of the main foods of crocodiles – a famous reptile from these forests.
If Pungash does not get anything to eat, they will die, eventually putting the lives of crocodiles at risk as well.
Meanwhile, the forest authorities formed a three-member committee to investigate incident capsize of the oil tanker, which sank in a Sundarbans river near Mongla of Bagerhat on Tuesday with 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil but no rescue operation began till yesterday afternoon.
Md Belayet Hosssain, assistant conservator (Chadpai range) of Sundarbans, as chief and asked it to submit a report within three days.
On the other hand, forest department filed a general diary (GD) against the owners of the oil tanker and cargo vessels. Abul Kalam Azad, assistant conservator of Chandpai range lodged the GD saying that they damaged Tk 100 crore wealth of the forestry.
M Giasuddin, managing director of Harun & Company, owner of the tanker, also filed a criminal case against the cargo vessel owner with Mongla Police Station.
