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Owners spring up as Buriganga gets dredged

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Dredging of the Buriganga began last week amid claims of ownership of its banks, foreshores and even the actual channel.
Scores of 'landowners' milled around the site with 'valid documents' to lay claims on the river as soon as a huge dredger anchored on the river near Waashpur and Basila recently.
After several meetings with the BIWTC (Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation) officials, the 'owners' demarcated their land over large areas in and around the river with red flags and bamboo poles.
The BIWTC engineers at the site said that the ownership claims would not affect the dredging
plans, although the flags have narrowed down the river significantly. The Sub-assistant Engineer and In-charge of the dredging site Abdul Matin said they were dredging according to a hydrographic map prepared by experts.
On the land ownership claims and planting of red flags and the bamboo poles, he said that it was not necessary to have more than 'twenty or thirty feet' of open channel for smooth navigation.
Sources in the BIWTC said that the ongoing Tk 36 crore project to dredge about 30 kilometres of waterways and to build landing facilities along the Turag and Buriganga rivers is sure to face serious hurdles. An official of the Port Section of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority
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(BIWTA) said there were more than 150 land ownership cases pending.
"Unless we resolve these disputes in court, the river can not be saved," said the BIWTC official. Most of the claimants of the river lands are however second or third-party owners.
According to an investigation report the banks and foreshores and in many cases the actual river channel were 'de-acquisitioned' by a section of officials at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Dhaka and handed over to individuals. Most of these buyers sold and resold the land with 'proper documents' to new buyers, who are now affected by the government move to free the river of the encroachers.
According to sources, the government has already completed paper work to acquire six acres of land at Gabtoli and Aminbazar to implement the Circular Waterway Project. Officials are not sure how these huge stretches of land could be recovered within this year when the project period expires. Moreover, the government has also acquired three acres of land at Ashuliya in this connection.
The project has been taken up to ensure a depth of twelve feet in the Buriganga and Turag rivers between Sadarghat and Ashuliya. The project also envisages several landing facilities along the 30-kilometre stretch of the two rivers.
The Director of the project Abul Kashem told The Daily Star that they would build two river ports at Aminbazar and Gabtoli.
"At present goods worth crores of taka are being transacted annually at Gabtoli and Aminbazar without the government benefiting at all. Once we remove the encroachers and build proper ports, the public exchequer would receive huge revenues from trading," Abul Kashem said.
Officials however said that the government must immediately take steps to acquire the "lost" lands along the river and help save the river from obliteration.