Environmental activists yesterday claimed that the government’s indifference towards saving the rivers was making illegal encroachment and pollution possible, resulting in the destruction of the rivers surrounding the city.
Speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club auditorium, they also alleged that the government’s “wrong” way of demarcating the boundary of Turag River had encouraged grabbers to turn the river area as their own property.
“Despite having the presence of different government initiatives to save the rivers, the illegal grabbing of the river area is going on, which shows the indifference towards saving the capital’s surrounding rivers,” said Abdul Matin, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa).
During recent visits to the area, a Bapa team found that most of the river pillars, set up on both sides of river Turag in 2011 as per a High Court directive, had been uprooted, Matin said while presenting a report by Bapa on the current situation of Turag River.
Sharif Jamil, convener of River keepers Bangladesh, said encroachers were encouraged to grab land around the river, as the district administration did not follow the proper way of demarcating river Turag, considering only the water flow of the dry season as the area of the river.
According to a directive by the High Court, the reach of water in the rainy season plus an additional 50 meter area is considered as the river area, while riverbed means the reach of water during winter.
Matin mentioned 109 grabbed sites and pollution sources in and around the Turag River that were identified during recent surveys by Bapa.
Different government agencies including Water and Sewage Authority (Wasa) and Bangladesh Water Development Board were also polluting the river, he added.
The Bapa general secretary urged the government to take immediate action to save the rivers by evicting the grabbers and setting up river demarcation pillars in accordance with the High Court directive.
The government also has to be stern against polluters from both the public and private sectors to stop pollution and land grabbing, as these practices have been destroying the rivers and its ecology, he added.
Sharif Jamil demanded punishment for those who violated the High Court directive and “wrongly” set up the demarcation pillars.