Bangladesh's Showpiece River Faces Decay
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DHAKA, Nov 4 (OneWorld) - The Bangladesh government and environmentalists have launched a drive to clean the dying Buriganga river near the capital, Dhaka: regarded as the city's lifeline and a major tourist attraction.
Thanks to relentless urbanization, the originally 115-kilometer long river which is a junction of the city's river transport, is now reduced to almost half its original size. Over the last three decades, encroachers continued to construct scores of illegal structures like markets, shopping malls and residential buildings on one of the country's major rivers, destroying marine life and navigability. Following last week's eviction drive against encroachers, environmentalists have convinced the government to construct a protective wall near the river which flows alongside the ten-million populated Dhaka. "A three-kilometer long wall can be built to fence off vulnerable areas facing massive encroachment," says Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain. Since the mid 80s, the government has occasionally tried evicting them, but they continue to crawl back, imparting an ugly appearance to the historic river. As the Buriganga river is a favored haunt for river cruises by visiting foreign dignitaries, its pathetic condition poses a major embarassment to the government. During a cruise by a group of World Bank executives earlier this year, the Buriganga was emitting a foul odor, its muddy waters choked by hundreds of dead fish. Protested senior World Bank official, Dale Lautenbach, "This stench is unbelievable, you must do something about it." Jolted into action, a task force of environmental activists and government agencies have launched a series of programs to permanently evict encroachers from the river. During a six-day drive from October 19 to 25 -- one of the largest over the past two decades -- the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) evicted 576 illegal structures from the banks of the Buriganga. Environmentalists estimate the river is still infested with over 4500 illegal structures. A visit to the Islambag area of the city's old section near the Buriganga is an eye opener in this respect. This region boasts a slum of nearly 2000 inflammable bamboo houses perched on poles in the river. The houses teeter dangerously close to one another, catching fire from different sources every two years. People die and lose their tiny homes, but their families return again. "We eat and work here, this is our way of life," shrugs Abdul Mazid who runs a small tailoring shop in the slum. People both bathe and defecate in the river. Ironically, they even disburse a monthly rent to the encroachers who set up the slum decades ago. The government finally says it means business. Asserts Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain, "We will take tough action against encroachers to save the lifeline of Dhaka." At a meeting chaired by the Shipping Minister on October 29, the Buriganga Protection Taskforce decided to undertake an integrated action plan to demarcate the riverbank. They decided to initiate an integrated project to protect the riverbanks, in coordination with a slew of government and nongovernmental organizations. Promises the minister, "We will completely evict the encroachers, and hand over the land to WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority) to build an embankment." Following the eviction drive, BIWTA Port Director Monwar Hossain informs that, "We have filed 35 criminal cases against notorious encroachers, who in turn filed 25 cases against BIWTA. We will continue to take tough legal action against them." To make the on-going drive a success, taskforce member and leader of the Save Buriganga Movement, Professor Muzaffer Ahmad proposes that BIWTA should appoint its own magistrates to facilitate anti-encroachment drives. The Save Buriganga Movement tops the agenda of the Bangladesh Poribesh Andonlon (BAPA) - a strong environmental forum of civil society and other environmental groups. The taskforce members will continue visiting the cleared banks during this month. But eviction of encroachers is just one aspect of the river's problems. It continues to be systematically polluted by the daily dumping of chemical and other wastes. The Environment Department estimates up to 40,000 tons of tannery waste flows into the river daily along with sewage from Dhaka. Human waste is responsible for 60 percent of pollution in the river, followed by industrial waste at 30 percent. The remaining is solid waste. Environmentalists say the river's water could be drastically purified by relocating the tanneries. A couple of months ago, the government approved a project to relocate over 200 tanneries to an area located 20 miles away from Dhaka, latest by 2005. "To save the Buriganga we must ban dumping of wastes in the river," stresses former finance minister AMA Muhit, also the founder president of the Save Buriganga Movement. In April, the government launched a plan to maintain the navigability and normal flow of the Buriganga, removing all illegal structures on its banks. It decided to ban brick kilns within 825 feet of the river bank as well as all structures within 1,782 feet. Environment Minister Shahjahan Siraj expresses hopes that efforts to save the Buriganga will begin yielding results by the year-end. "The government is doing everything possible to save the river," he says. Ironically, once upon a time, the Buriganga formed the main source of drinking water for Dhaka residents. |
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