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HC asks govt to stop river encroachment

Staff Correspondent
The High Court (HC) yesterday directed the government to take appropriate steps to stop encroachment, earth-filling, and construction of illegal structures on the Buriganga, Turag, Balu, and Shitalakkhya rivers.
After hearing a writ petition, an HC bench of Justice ABM Kliairul Haque and Justice Md Mamtazuddin Ahmed issued the ad-interim order and a ruling upon the government to explain within one week why it should not be directed to take initiatives to remove all illegal structures built on the earth-filled encroached upon sections of the rivers and on their banks.
A section of the ruling also asked the deputy commissioners (DC) of Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur, the chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), and the director general of the Directorate of Land Records and Survey to explain why they should not be directed to determine the original spans of the rivers by conducting surveys after forming a
FROM PAGE 16 special committee.
The bench fixed June 1 fora hearing on the ruling, and the direction will continue to have its effect till the hearing.
Secretaries to the ministries of planning, environment and forest, finance, land, LGRD, shipping, water resources, and communications, the chairman of BIWTA, the director general of the Directorate of Land Records and Survey, the director general of the Department of Environment, DCs of Dhaka. Narayanganj and Gazipur, and the police commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Db P) have been made respondents to the entire ruling.
Five Supreme Court lawyers -- Asaduzzaman Siddiqui, Sarwar Ahad Chowdhury, Aki as Uddin Bhuiyan, Tapan Kanti Das, and Mamun Aleem - on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) jointiy filed the writ petition earlier in the day as a public interest lawsuit.
The petition sought a court order for the government to demarcate the original territories of the rivers Buriganga, Turag, Balu, and Shitalakkhya through a survey by a special team, to restore the rivers to their original conditions, and their protection.
The petition also prayed to the court to direct the authorities to take immediate steps to stop encroachment, earth-filhng, and construction of illegal structures on the rivers.
It said the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakkhya rivers are the main source of water for millions of people residing in Dhaka and Narayanganj.
Moreover, the rivers are playing a key role in the transport sector as well as in maintainingbio-diversity.
But encroachment, earthfilling, and setting up of illegal structures continue on the rivers in violation of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, leaving negative impacts on the environment, the petition said.
Petitioners' counsel Advocate Manzil Murshid told the court that the normal flow of water in the rivers has been damaged due to earth-filling of the rivers and construction of illegal structures on encroached upon portions of them.
He said the main source of water for Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) is the Buriganga and Shitalkkhya rivers, and due to wholesale pollution of the river water, purification of water has been seriously hampered.
As a result the quality of water supplied to Dhaka city and its adjacent areas has become degraded, endangering thousands of people's health, he added.
Deputy Attorney General Mostafa Zaman Islam represented the government.