Turag set to lose foreshore land
The shipping minister formally inaugurated installation of boundary pillars of the river Turag yesterday as part of an ongoing move to save the rivers of Dhaka.
But the pillars were put along the waterline of dry-season lean flow following a faulty demarcation excluding the foreshores. The demarcation is also in deviation from a High Court direction which defined a river as a totality of its bed, foreshores, and banks.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) organised the ceremony by the lean-season waterline of the Turag, to the south of Tongi Kamarpara Bridge and west of Biswa Ijtema ground. An awareness raising programme was also organised on the Telephone Shilpa Sangstha ground.
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan told reporters after opening the programme that the boundary pillars are aimed at protecting five rivers in and around Dhaka city against powerful land grabbers.
The pillars will be installed along 220-kilometre long shorelines of the 110-kilometre long stretch of the rivers Buriganga, Shitalakkhya, Turag, Balu, and Dhaleswari under a Tk 99 crore project, he said.
District administrations of Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Munshiganj area are expected to start installation of the pillars soon in conjunction with the public works department.
Shajahan Khan, however, turned down a question from The Daily Star as to whether the river will be protected without the foreshores, saying, "No more question now, we will address it later."
According to the definition by port rules, foreshore is the soil lying between the low water mark and high water mark of normal tide during dry season and monsoon, which is vital for conservation, port operation and navigability of a river. The foreshores and the river bed are khas lands (government lands).
Md Rezaul Karim Hira, land minister, who attended the programme, said there are many kinds of private ownership documents for khas lands.
Exclusion of foreshores from a river area will not only accommodate private occupants of foreshores, but will also encourage fresh encroachment upon rivers, according to officials of BIWTA.
A High Court bench in 2009 directed the authorities concerned to survey the Dhaka rivers, demarcate those with pillars, and build walkways and plant trees on their banks.
Abdul Mannan Khan, state minister for public works, said an unscrupulous section of real estate developers grab rivers, canals, and wetlands, and publicise flashy advertisements to sell those public properties.
"Rivers and wetlands must be protected to save Dhaka from flooding, conserve the environment, and to ensure water sources," he said.
Quamrul Islam, state minister for law; Sanjida Khanom, a lawmaker of Dhaka; local lawmaker Jahid Ahsan Russel; Md Ajmat Ullah Khan; the mayor of Tongi Pourashabha; Shipping Secretary Md Abdul Mannan Howladar; and BIWTA Chairman Md Abdul Malek Mian also spoke.
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