Reclaiming occupied city's canals

THE directive of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Land Ministry on reclaiming the canals of the city now under the occupation of different individuals and organisations couldn't have come a day later. It is a natural extension of the earlier action by the government against river grabbers.
Reassuringly, the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) body appears to be serious about freeing the city's canals from grabbers as it warned that a joint drive would be launched involving different government bodies concerned in case the unauthorised occupiers fail to comply with the notice of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) in that connection.
Belated though, the issue taken up by the JS body is a serious matter for the city's stifled drainage system. The listed 39 old canals, which the Land Survey department has demarcated, once provided the natural way to drain off the waste materials of the city thereby keeping water logging at bay. Admittedly, some well-thought-out steps have been envisaged to begin with, but what next?
It is suspected that the grabbers have They also have a deep nexus with some corrupt elements in the administration and with their help they are apt at faking up documents to justify their illegal occupation. This aspect should be looked into for a sustainable eviction of illegal grabbers.
A cautionary note may not be out of place here. Given the fact that the grabbers are powerful quarters, initial moves and the promises made by JS body to free the city's canals should be matched by effective actions. For in the last Wednesday's Daily Star report on canal grabbing, for example, the chief of the JS standing committee on Land Ministry has admitted that different government institutions including DCC are among the illegal grabbers of the city's canal. In that case, the question naturally arises about the efficacy of the promised joint drive against canal grabbers where DCC itself is a defaulter!
So, to make this latest move by the JS body a success, it needs to get to the root of the problem and take concrete action programme supported by appropriate legal actions. And before everything else, it would be necessary to clean the proverbial exorcist's bag of the ghosts already hiding in it.