Save Turag

The High Court yesterday directed the government to stop earth filling, encroachment and construction of structures along the foreshores of the Turag river within 48 hours and submit a report to it by November 27 after complying with the order.

The court also asked the deputy commissioner of Gazipur to submit within the same timeframe a list of names and addresses of those involved in carrying out such activities.

In response to a writ petition, the court issued a rule upon the authorities concerned to explain in four weeks why their inaction to stop such activities should not be declared illegal.

The court also asked the authorities to explain why they should not be ordered to remove the soil already dumped in the river and to demolish the structures along the foreshores of the Turag.

Shipping secretary, chairmen of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, directors general of Water Development Board and Department of Environment, deputy commissioner and superintendent of police in Gazipur, and officers-in-charge of Turag and Tongi police stations were made respondents to the rule, petitioner's counsel Manzill Murshid told The Daily Star. 

The HC bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Mohammad Ullah came up with the order and rule after hearing the writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, seeking necessary orders on the authorities concerned to save the river.

 The court fixed November 27 for passing further orders on the issue.

The rights body moved the HC on Monday after a report headlined “Time to declare Turag dead” was run by The Daily Star on November 6.

During the hearing yesterday, Manzill told the court that photos and the report published in the English daily depicted how the Turag was being grabbed and structures built along its foreshores in violation of laws and the country's constitution.

The HC on many previous occasions had directed the government with orders and judgments on saving the country's rivers within specific deadlines.

But most of those directives either went into oblivion or ended up half-implemented. 

The HC in June 2009 had delivered a landmark judgment on saving rivers. The court issued another order in July 2014 to save the Turag as its existence was deplorable.     

The 2009 judgment delineated detailed measures about how to recover the ailing rivers from land grabbers and save them from pollution. The judgment contained orders on district administrations to demarcate the boundaries of five Dhaka rivers -- the Buriganga, the Balu, the Turag, the Shitalakkhya and the Dhaleswari.

Later, demarcation pillars were set up along the river banks during the lean flow of dry season, excluding around 2,500 acres of river foreshores and wetlands.

During visits to the Buriganga and the Turag last month, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan admitted that out of 6,000 boundary pillars, 2,000 were installed wrongly.

It lured land grabbers into gobbling up river areas with massive earth filling.

Seven years ago, the judiciary along with Jatiya Sangshad had joined a rally launched by this newspaper to stop a slow but certain death of the rivers due to outrageous encroachment, pollution and lack of dredging.

It all hardly helped the cause as the Turag, the Buriganga, the Balu and the Shitalakhya continued to be ravaged by ruthless river grabbers right under the nose of around half a dozen river custodians.