3 Dhaka rivers to get boundary pillars
Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan yesterday formally launched the raising of boundary pillars along the Buriganga at Jinjira Ferry Ghat in Keraniganj to demarcate the river and parts of the Turag and the Balu.
The High Court in 2009 asked the deputy commissioners concerned to demarcate four Dhaka rivers with pillars as per cadastral survey (CS) and revisional survey (RS) records.
Zanendra Nath Sarker, additional deputy commissioner (revenue) of Dhaka, said they followed the RS records to demarcate the rivers, as it is impossible to reclaim the river as per CS records.
However, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Dhaka district administration in a joint survey identified 4,029 structures illegally erected encroaching into the river.
But the district administration has placed a report to the HC to exclude 3160 illegal structures.
Abul Bashar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman, upazila nirbahi officer of Keraniganj, admitted that the structures recommended for exclusion were in the river as per CS records.
But those structures are now on private land as per RS and settlement records, he mentioned adding, the district administration has leased out shore areas of rivers to private individuals as the rivers changed course.
This has ultimately shrunk the rivers to a large extent.
Md Mohibul Haque, deputy commissioner of Dhaka, however, claimed that they have saved foreshores -- the soil lying between low-water mark and high-water mark of normal tide during dry season and monsoon.
The district authorities will set up 8,067 boundary pillars along the 198 kilometre banks of 99-kilometre long river stretching mainly from Pagla to Ashulia at an estimated cost of Tk15 crore.
Md Rezaul Karim Hira, land minister, Abdul Mannan Khan, state minister for housing and public works, Qamrul Islam, state minister for law, Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on shipping ministry, local lawmaker Nasrul Hamid Bipu, Sanjida Khanom MP, and Md Shamsuddoha Khondker, chairman of BIWTA, attended the programme.
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