PM rallies for rivers

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to address widespread pollution and encroachment on the rivers around Dhaka.

"We shall take actions immediately," State Minister for Environment and Forest Mostafizur Rahman told The Daily Star yesterday.

Although any specific decision on the issue is yet to be made, the government is thinking of undertaking a project to address river pollution, he said.

"The prime minister is gravely concerned about widespread river pollution around the capital as exposed by the media. The issue was also discussed at a recent cabinet meeting," the state minister said.

Apart from toxic industrial effluents, solid and liquid wastes discharged by the Dhaka City Corporation and Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) have been polluting the rivers around the capital, Mostafizur said.

It will be extremely difficult to supply drinking water to the city dwellers unless these rivers are saved, he said.

High officials at the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) yesterday said they would launch eviction drives against river encroachers with the help of Gazipur and Dhaka district administration on Monday and Wednesday.

The matter will be finalised at the ministry concerned today.

Sources said the administration in the two districts has already assigned magistrates for conducting drives against the encroachers on the Turag, Buriganga and Balu rivers.

A top BIWTA official visited Amin Bazar, Gabtoli, Ashulia and Tongi last week to witness the current status of the rivers following The Daily Star's ongoing campaign against encroachment on rivers.

"We shall remove all illegal structures and earth-filled portions from the Turag River at Gabtoli and elsewhere," said a BIWTA official.

Dr Mihir Kanti Majumdar, secretary in-charge of the environment and forest ministry, told The Daily Star that the executive committee of the National Environment Committee discussed the issue of river pollution at a meeting three weeks ago.

The meeting chaired by the state minister for environment and forest decided to review all recommendations made so far in this regard.

The executive committee will make decisions based on the review and place them before the National Committee headed by the prime minister after June 5, the secretary said.

The High Court on May 23 directed the government to take necessary steps to stop encroachment, earth-filling and construction of illegal structures on the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakkhya rivers.

The HC also asked the deputy commissioners of Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur, BIWTA authorities and director general of Land Directorate to explain why they shouldn't be directed to determine the real situation of those rivers by conducting a survey through formation of a special committee.

The HC bench fixed June 1 for hearing on the rule.

Besides, the parliamentary standing committee on environment and forest ministry on May 25 formed a four-member sub-committee to take necessary steps to save the country's rivers especially the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakkhya from pollution and encroachers.

The sub-committee members will visit the rivers to get a first-hand experience and prepare a report in two months.

Standing Committee Chairman Abdul Momin Talukder said on May 25 that at least 567 industries are yet to set up effluent treatment plant (ETP) citing it one of the major reasons for river pollution.

The committee will sit with the industrialists to discuss the issue.