The High Court on Sunday directed the authorities concerned to stop all activities, including earth-filling, in the Bamni canal at Savar in Dhaka by housing companies Zam Zam Noor City, SA Housing and Sugandha Housing for their unapproved housing projects.
The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah gave the direction after the hearing of a petition seeking necessary directives to protect the canal.
The court also ordered the submission of a report on how much of the canal, which is flowing through Chandunia, Konda and Kandiboliarpur Mouzas in Savar, has been filled up with land.
The chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), director generals of the Department of Environment (DoE) and Water Development Board and deputy commissioner of Dhaka have been made respondents.
The High Court also issued a rule asking the officials concerned of the government to explain why their failure to protect Bamni Khal and its adjacent water bodies and farmlands from the earth-filling by Zam Zam Noor City, SA Housing and Sugandha Housing for unapproved housing projects should not declared illegal and detrimental to public interest.
Six rights organizations and urban planner Prof Adil Muhammad Khan filed the writ.
The rights organizations are – Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela), Nijera Kori, Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD); Manobadhikar Shongskriti Foundation (MSF); Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK); and Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST).
The DoE had fined Zam Zam Noor City Tk23 lakh on October 21, 2021 and Rajuk had fined it Tk5 lakh on September 20 last year, but the company has continued its activities, the petitioners said in the writ.
Advocate Syeda Rizwana Hasan assisted by lawyers Shamima Nasrin and S Hasanul Banna appeared for the petitioners while Deputy Attorney General Tushar Kanti Roy represented the state during the hearing of the petition.