Drives to free Turag barely work out

A three-day drive against encroachers did not yield expected results for the Turag as heaps of sand were still being piled up on the river's foreshore.
The Dhaka district administration and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) on Thursday seized 1.8 lakh cubic feet (cft) of sand and sold it in auction. But more sand was still left piled up in the area yesterday, the concluding day of the drive.
The eviction drive was mainly limited to one single point while similar cases of encroachment were seen elsewhere, but the authorities took no action against those.
On the second day of the drive, BIWTA officials seized and sold more than 18,000 cft of sand in auction from another point adjacent to Sinnirtek landing station. But removal of the sand did not start as of yesterday.
"We have given the buyers four days from Saturday to remove the sand," Mohammad Shahidullah, deputy director of BIWTA, told The Daily Star.
Huge piles of sand were kept on both banks, but the drive was conducted only in Sinnirtek area, one of the largest trading centres for construction sand in the capital.
"They [the government officials) were busy at this particular point. Mysteriously, they did not touch the other mounds of sand. They might have been convinced through underhand dealings," said tea-stall owner Delwar Hossain.
Selim Hossen, executive magistrate from the district administration, said, "We have found a total of 11 similar points from Sinnirtek to Tamanna Resort [a stretch of around three kilometres] where mounds of sand are piled. "It is not possible to evict all those overnight. We have a plan to launch several drives in phases in this month to remove those," he added.
Some unscrupulous traders have initiated housing projects grabbing the western foreshore of the Turag, just opposite the Sinnirtek landing station of BIWTA. But no eviction drive was conducted there.
Deputy Director Mohammad Shahidullah said several cases had been filed earlier against the housing project initiators.
Traders have grabbed around 60 to 70 feet foreshore on the west and more than 100 feet on the east of Sinnirtek area, he said.
Locals are sceptical about the result of the drive. They allege the sand traders always appear within a few days after the drive. "The traders remain silent for around a week after the drive. Then they start sand filling on the foreshore again by managing the administration," said Quayum Miah, a resident of the area.
Speaking anonymously, a BIWTA official alleged police posted in the area always remain silent against the grabbers in exchange of bribe.
"As the grabbers remain unpunished, they dare to commit the offence repeatedly," Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan Joint Secretary Sharif Jamil told The Daily Star yesterday.
Over the last few years, sand traders, many of them having strong ties with the ruling parties, have gone to the extreme of filling up the rivers, canals and other water bodies in and around the capital.
Occupying rivers or any wetland is a punishable offence under the environment law.