Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan has asked the authorities concerned to remove illegal structures from both sides of Kallyanpur “K” canal in the capital within a week.
The directive came as the minister, also chief of the taskforce formed for recovery of rivers, paid a sudden visit to the area yesterday.
The minister expressed dissatisfaction seeing illegal structures on both sides of the canal, Jahangir Alam Khan, Public Relations Officer of the Shipping Ministry, told the Dhaka Tribune.
The canal, located near the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation at Shyamoli, was earlier recovered from the clutches of illegal occupants.
A section of illegal occupiers, however, encroached on both sides of the canal, one of the key points through which sewage flows out of the capital, again and erected structures due to lack of surveillance by the authorities concerned.
Expressing his concern over illegal occupation of the canal, Shajahan Khan said: “The government has recovered some of the canals in Dhaka during its previous tenure and constructed walkways on both sides of those. Consequently, there was a reduction in water-logging and environment pollution.”
“A section of illegal occupants, however, occupied those again because the authorities concerned did not monitor the areas closely and there were shortage of funds. The government will ensure adequate funds to protect the canals from occupiers to make the city liveable,” he added.
Stating that the WASA authorities have signed an agreement with the government of the Netherlands to dredge the canals in order to make those usable and to protect the banks, the minister said: “Construction will start soon and once completed, problems related to water-logging and environment pollution will be eradicated.”
Shajahan said the government had found existence of only 23 canals out of a total of 46 in Dhaka, adding that the rest were filled up either by illegal occupants or owners.
“The government built walkways on both sides of 13 canals after evicting encroachers, removing illegal structures and carrying out maintenance tasks. A portion of Kallyanpur “K” canal and Ramchandrapur canal were dredged and maintained while maintenance of Shuvadda canal will begin soon,” said the minister.
Additional Secretary of the Shipping Ministry Md Alauddin, Joint Secretary Sohrab Hossain Sheikh and top officials of Dhaka WASA and Dhaka North City Corporation accompanied the minister during the visit.
