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Canals left out of recovery drive

Dozens of canals in and around Dhaka dying due to encroachment, pollution

MORSHED A1J Khan
Canals in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Munshiganj will soon become non-existent unless the authorities concerned immediately bring them under the ongoing river-saving drive, said district administration officials and environmentalists of the four districts.
Without these canals, rivers of the districts would drastically lose navigability creating more pressure on roadways. For years these canals have been used for transportation of farm and dairy products from peripheral vil-
According to Prof Muzaffer Ahmad, president of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (BAPA), these canals are as important as the rivers since the ecology of Dhaka depends on them.
"We have always been vocal about saving these canals along with the rivers in order to ensure a sound ecology and being well of the people living around them, Ahmad said.
The authorities declared the rivers Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakhya ecologically critical areas (ECA), but did not mention
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dozens of important canals originating from them.
"When we conducted surveys on rivers, dozens of canals came to our notice. All the officials and surveyors felt that these precious waterways should be included in the survey," said a Dhaka district administration official involved in supervising field level survey.
The number of encroach-ers would double in the records if those natural canals are brought under the survey and steps are taken to protect them, he added.
"If you do not save the branches of a tree what is the use of saving its trunk only," said the official explaining how a land hungry section is systematically destroying these canals.
In the eastern side of Dhaka, dozens of canals spawning from river Balu have disappeared in the hands of big real estate developers. The Trimohoni canals, infamous for extremely polluted water, are disappearing fast due to siltation and encroachment.
Beyond the flood protection embankment in the western part of the city, a dozen of canals have already disappeared from the vast low-lying areas. Real estate developers are indiscriminately filling up hundreds of acres of wetland crisscrossed by these canals.
According to locals of the peripheral villages of Keraniganj, only a few years ago they used those canals for irrigation, transportation of merchandise and commuting. But soon as the developers arrived with automated earth filling equipment such as "volgate dredgers" the canals were just wiped out. There has been no measure to save them from the authorities’ part.
For instance, the Rayer Bazar canal and the Haikkar canal near Mohammadpurare being encroached upon fast. Lack of dredging has silted up bed of these canals where navigability is an everyday struggle during lean season.
Across the Buriganga in Basila, the Atir canal is on the verge of being filled up. The developer's onslaught on the canal was temporarily halted when The Daily Star published a report on the matter. But now the developer has resumed filling up the canal.
The same spectacle is prevalent in the south of the city along Mawa road. Miles along the road canals, ponds and marshland have been replaced by a stretch of sand extracted from riverbed. Sandy twisters in these areas remind one of a desert.
In the north of the capital through Tongi, Savar and Gazipur many natural canals are now on the verge of disappearance in the similar manner.