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POLLUTION OF GULSHAN LAKE

Cleaners dumping hundreds of thousands of dead fish

Staff Correspondent
Hundreds of thousands of fish, worth over Tk 1 crore, were found floating dead yesterday in the Gulshan Lake, polluted with toxic waste blamed on dyeing plants nearby.
About 20 small country boats were trawling the lake to clear the dead fish off the water, which spread wafts of smell in the diplomatic enclave in Baridhara.
Witnesses said the cleaners dumped hundreds of dead fish in the lakeside and are unprepared for hundreds of others dying by the minute from high toxicity.
Toxic pollution spread more to the Baridhara part of the lake, which is directly linked to sewers and other underground drains coming from industrial areas like Sewra and Kuril, sources said.
Locals said some fish traders collected some big fish from the lake early yesterday morning apparently for sale.
Officials of Bangladesh Fish Development Corporation (BFDC) and a fishing association, Gulshan Shoukhin Matshya Shikar Samabaya Samity, which jointly manage the lake, were present at the site supervising the clean-up, too slow for the severity of the situation.
Those engaged in the cleanliness drive said it would take some more days to remove all dead fish from the lake water, but environmentalists said the aquatic life forms in the lake were already threatened.
"This is not the first time it happened. We saw similar disasters in 2001 and 2002 and the cause might be the same chemical discharges from the garment washing and dyeing plants," said a high official of the BFDC.
The lake was declared an ecologically critical area and the Department of Environment (DoE) in charge of monitoring the cleanliness of the lake is alleged to have neglected its duty.
Rajuk that owns the lake and leased it out to the BFDC for five years is equally blamed for skirting its responsibility to keep the lake environmentally clean.
But Rajuk Chairman Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury told The Daily Star, "The manufacturing plants close to the lake discharge toxic chemicals into the water round the clock. Gulshan has no proper sewerage and we can do nothing unless there are efforts to manage and divert the waste."
A Rajuk engineer blamed the BFDC for not monitoring such toxic discharges, saying: "It is clearly stated in the agreement that the lessees will maintain the lake."
A meeting was held on Thursday among several departments, including Dhaka WASA and Dhaka City Corporation, to launch a priority project to construct sewerage lines in Gulshan and Baridhara to divert all waste.
DoE and BFDC officials were not available for comments.
Bangladesh Environment Movement General Secretary Abu Nesar Khan told The Daily Star, "We repeatedly requested the government to take steps to protect the lake and prevent the waste from streaming into its water. But no action has been taken. We demand punishment to those responsible for dumping toxic chemicals in the water-body."