Former Supreme Court Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik has urged the government to form a separate ministry to free rivers from illegal occupation.
Justice Shamsuddin said that at present, the people of the existing ministry deployed to free the rivers from illegal occupation assign their duties to others to get away from their responsibility.
“If there is a separate ministry to deal with the issue, then the process of freeing rivers from illegal occupation will be done effectively,” he said.
The justice came up with the suggestion at a press conference on “present and future of illegal occupation eviction of the rivers “, organized by Bangladesh Online Activists Forum at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka on Monday.
Lawmaker Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman of Chandpur-4 constituency said that illegal river occupation, land and road grabbing, are crimes similar to war crimes.
“These crimes against humanity must be strictly controlled and the accused should be brought under capital punishment” he added.
Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, general secretary of Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association (BPWA), said there is low risk of accidents on waterways, compared to roads. To bring back the rivers to life, initiatives and action against illegal river occupation is warmly welcomed by everyone.
“But we are very much concerned about re-occupation of river land after eviction,” he said.
“To prevent re-occupation, walkways, gardens and parks should be raised or built on the banks of the rivers. At the same time, the authorities must ensure proper procedures to save the freed space from re-occupation,” he added.
Nasir Uddin Ahmed, secretary to Cultural Affairs Ministry, and Ashok Barua, executive president of Bangladesh Buddhist Federation, among others, also spoke at the event.