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Pollution & human invasion

Buriganga dying

By Farzand Anwar
Not long ago, the Buriganga was a beauty of a river. Its clean and transparent flow was a soothing sight. Its catches were special delicacies to fish lovers. Sailing on the river was a prime leisure of the Nawabs and aristocrats of the colonial Dhaka.
Gone are those days a beauty and pride. With its banks being burdened with the enormous pressure of population and economic activities, the Buriganga today struggles to survive.
Thousands of new factories, markets and other establishments have come up along the river and all their wastes are dumped into its water. Motor launches and engine boats grow everyday. They release tonnes of smokes and toxic fuels.
The Buriganga is clearly greying. The once beautiful stream has ended up as a waste canal. The greenish colour of its flow is gone. Its water smells bad. Fishes are rare. The residents of Dhaka City now hardly think of a leisure sailing on the river.
People are exploiting the river so mindlessly that they almost ruined it. Pollution of Buriganga is now a big concern for the environmentalists. The contamination of the river (with toxic substances) is really alarming," Saiyid Musharraf Hussain. Director General of the Department of Environment said.
Indiscriminate release of toxic chemicals into the Buriganga is seen as the major cause for pollution. The main culprits are the tannery units alongside Hazaribagh area. These tannery factories dump untreated toxic chemicals into the river round the year and endanger the river.
Hussain said they found 40 milligrams of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) per litre of Buriganga water near Hazaribagh area while the maximum safety limit is 10 milligram. "It's dangerous for public health as thousands of people are using the river water." he said.
There are hundreds other industrial polluters like plastic industries, dyeing unit, and mushrooming docks and workshops.
According to a survey by the Department of Environment, Industries in and around Dhaka discharge about 14.000 tonnes of solid waste and 16.000 tonnes of chemical wastes into the rivers every year. The Buriganga has to swallow much of these wastes.
"Markets are also harming badly, tonnes of wastes are being dumped into the river by
fish and other wholesale markets everyday." said Hussain. The environment department has recently recommended that the government pursue the markets not to dump wastes into the Buriganga.
Pollution is only the one part of the attacks on the Buriganga. More alarming is that the landgrabbers have eyed the river.
Every year, some part of the river is taken over by the greedy landgrabbers. During dry season. they fill up some part of the river and occupy it by raising shanties on bamboo platform. Multi-storied building on concrete pillars are also being raised on such occupied land.
Thus the Buriganga Is slimming every year. "The whole Kamrangir Char area Is being raised on the river." said Abdul Khaleque. a resident of Lalbagh area, a witness of the occupation process. The char is expanding every year. May be one day, people will fill up the , whole river and there will be no Buriganga," the old man said — News Network ,