Environmental issues
Faruk Ahmed, Thailand, On e-mail
We were mache-bhate Bangali. I learned fishing before I had learnt alphabets. Fishing was my addiction in my teenage in the 1980s. I grew up in a village where there were canals and a midsize bil (sweet water body) full of fishes almost round the year. I still remember one day I caught 23 Katla fish by one pull of my fishnet. The elders with bigger nets used to get many more.The bil and canals are still there, but have no water almost round the year. The water for irrigation was naturally available and the farmers used to apply their traditional techniques for irrigation. Now you will hear the noise of water pumps round the clock to prevent the paddy field from drying up. This is the reply from nature for our misdoings. The dams are built for flood protection and better water resource control without considering the consequences at large. The water management in Bil Dakatia is one appropriate example, which has left millions homeless and foodless. The Padma-Meghna-Jamuna-Buriganga are still flowing but carrying the toxic wastes from the mills. The Sundarbans is still there, but greatly depleted. The air in a town or village is polluted by the smokes from mills and brickfields. Social responsibility is something that our industrialists do not have. The industrialists are running after gains in terms of money, which eventually results in net loss in the long run our children are growing up in a polluted environment. The upcoming generation must be given the opportunity to understand the importance of our environmental needs.
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