Protect our rivers at all costs
However, it is good to learn that the district authorities have already started listing the river grabbers, as directed by the HC in February this year. Already, the deputy commissioners of 60 districts have submitted their reports to the NRCC. Now that we have a list of the river grabbers, we hope that these people will be prosecuted according to our law. A special tribunal can be set up to punish these offenders.
According to the HC orders, the Election Commission is supposed to make the river grabbers ineligible for contesting any elections and the Bangladesh Bank is to make them ineligible for bank loans. If they comply with the HC orders, a lot of progress can be made in protecting our rivers.
But above all, the NRCC should be empowered enough to do its job. Making recommendations should not be the commission's only job. It should be given executive power and enough fund to carry out its activities. Currently, it does not have the authority to hold government officials accountable for ignoring river conservation. It can just file cases against the river grabbers and report to the HC on non-compliance of court orders. In order to empower the commission, the relevant laws should be amended, as was directed by the HC.
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