2000 pillars in the wrong place on Dhaka Rivers

We are deeply disturbed by the news published in this paper yesterday, according to which as many as 2,000 demarcation pillars on the Buriganga and the Turag were installed inside the river. As a result, land grabbers have feasted on a whopping 2,500 acres worth of landmass of four major rivers that surrounded the capital and its adjoining areas, causing great environmental damage.    

However, we are not surprised. Rivers have long been the soft targets of the land grabbers who flex the proverbial power of money and muscle to carry on their despicable acts in connivance with some unscrupulous government officials to strangulate the city itself. Both the Buriganga and Turag have turned into a skeleton of their previous self. 

It had been seven years since the High Court had passed a historic ruling, which directed the government to demarcate boundaries of major rivers and stop illegal encroachment. What we have witnessed since then is a string of expensive eviction drives san active monitoring. As soon as they end, the encroachers come back with sand filling equipments and go on with their diabolical work at full throttle. 

We are heartened to learn that the Shipping Minister has directed the agencies concerned to move the pillars to where they should have been erected in the first place. We believe that this needs to be followed by stringent and active monitoring. Roads and walkways ought to be built alongside the river to deter future encroachment. It is also time the ministry concerned hold the officials accountable whose negligence and complicity have put the very existence of our rivers under such grievous threat.