Green Voice, an organisation working for environment, demanded steps to free the rivers, including Buriganga, Turag, Shitalakkliya and Balu, from encroachers and make them pollution-free.

They placed the demand at a human chain formed in front of the National Press Club in the < ityyesterday.

I hey also demanded steps to t umpel the industry owners to set up effluent treatment plants, stopping dumping of untreated wastes into the rivers, implementing wetland protection act strictly, and conducting dnves to evict or demolish illegal struc-tureson the bank of rivers.

Green Voice Coordinator Alamgir Kabir, convener of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port engineer Sheikh Md Shahidullah, member secretary of Buriganga Bachao Andolon Mihir Biswas, and Bidhan Chandra Pal, among others, spoke at the event.