As Bangladesh continues to develop and reach its goals as a middle-income nation, one question has not been asked often enough: Has this development been sustainable? For while it is true that we have indeed developed impressively in terms of our GDP growth, it appears that we have often failed to pay sufficient attention elsewhere.
Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the slow death of Bangladesh's rivers, and it is a shame to see that Khulna's Mayur River is experiencing the same fate, owing to nothing but gross negligence on the part of people.
Indeed, it is a shame that we continue to dump waste with impunity into our rivers, taking them for granted and showing blatant disregard for the people who depend on these rivers in order to survive. Furthermore, illegal encroachment by nefarious parties continues to be a major issue for their deaths as well, with the authorities failing to put an end to this ill practice.
All of this hurts not just the riverine communities who owe everything to the health of these rivers, but the entire country as a whole.
To say that rivers are an integral part of Bangladesh would be the grossest understatement; rivers have long defined Bangladesh which has often been called the “land of rivers.” It is thus a shame that, even despite judicial orders, we continue to fail in our attempts to protect our rivers.
It is about time we put an end to this. All of Bangladesh's development will be meaningless if the land of rivers is ultimately left with rivers that no longer flow.
