Ruling, opposition leaders blamed for river grabbing

Speakers at a meeting yesterday held both ruling and opposition party leaders responsible for encroachment on the country's rivers, emphasising political will of the government and major political parties to end the practice.
The meeting, “Imperatives to free and save Buriganga”, was jointly organised by Riverine People, in association with Oxfam, in the capital's Bangladesh Economic Association.
Journalist Abu Sayeed Khan said a group of “robbers and public enemies” were behind the encroachment.
“These people are in Awami League, BNP and also in Jatiya Party,” he said, opining for strong civic movement to stop the encroachment.
Citing a 2007-08 environment ministry survey, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon General Secretary Abdul Matin said riverside industries, Dhaka city corporations and Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority contributed to 90 percent of the pollution of rivers surrounding the capital.
“The two leaders (of the ruling and opposition parties) can give a signal to their followers that we are serious about rivers and this could bring some good for rivers,” he added.
Buriganga should be protected to save Dhaka, said columnist Syed Abul Maksud, urging the government to hold at least one cabinet meeting on the Buriganga to understand the ground reality properly.
Eminent economist Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, former secretary Inam Ahmed Chowdhury and Chittagong University teacher Shudipta Sharma spoke at the roundtable.