Can the High Court order save our Buriganga?
We applaud the High Court's recent order directed at the Department of Environment (DoE) to lodge a case against 30 washing plants in Keraniganj area within a month's time for polluting the waters of Buriganga in violation of the law and court directives. The HC ordered the authorities concerned to stop the dumping of waste into the Buriganga during the hearing of a writ petition which was filed by rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) in May 2010, seeking necessary directives to save the Buriganga from pollution.
The authorities concerned and the local representatives have been directed to monitor the situation so that no one can dump waste into Buriganga river and to take appropriate legal action if any individual or organisation pollutes its waters and environment. How, despite being shut down twice by the DoE, did the polluting factories have the audacity to restart operations and continue to pollute and damage the environment unceremoniously remains highly questionable, even more so, because the law allows to file cases against such polluting factories, which the DoE did not.
We are optimistic that the DoE will now follow the HC order and act responsibly, and the polluting factories will no longer be able to operate with such impunity. Strict prison terms need to be slapped on such river polluters to resuscitate whatever remaining life there is in our over-exploited rivers. Let us remind ourselves that every river acts as a lifeline, and its death means putting people's health and livelihoods at stake. Such lawful initiatives should not be limited to the Buriganga only, but must be extended to all other rivers across the country.
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