Locals demand BSRM stop extracting groundwater

Hundreds of residents of Mirsharai upazila formed a human chain at Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills' (BSRM) main factory gate yesterday demanding that it stop withdrawing groundwater using deep tube wells, saying it was causing a water crisis in the region.  

The local parliament member, Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, was chief guest at the one-hour demonstration beginning at 10:00am. At that time, the Dhaka-Chattogram highway was closed for half an hour.

"Residents of eight unions of the upazila are not getting water due to the BSRM factory extracting groundwater by installing 10 to 12 deep tube wells of high capacity for the last 10 years," said Hossain.

"The BSRM made a promise to the local people that they would fetch water from the nearby Feni river through a pipeline, but they have cheated the people," he said.

"The prime minister has set up 50,000 acres of Bangabandhu Industrial City to save agricultural land of the area. The BSRM should relocate the factory from this agricultural and populated area to Bangabandhu Industrial City within the next one year," he added.

"If the deep tube wells are not closed, we will force the administration to stop all the activities of the BSRM factory," said Rezaul Karim Khokon, mayor of Bariarhat municipality, the event's convener.

"We will ensure that new raw materials do not enter the factory if they do not stop withdrawal of groundwater," he said.

Tapan Sengupta, deputy managing director of BSRM Group, told The Daily Star that there were at least 100 small and large factories in the area besides the BSRM.

Those have also been withdrawing water installing tube wells but some people with personal motives are blaming the BSRM, he said. He said it was untrue that local people were not getting water because of the BSRM's tube wells.

It is true that people of the area face a water crisis, but it was not everywhere. The water level has also decreased a bit due to less rainfall this year, he added.