No Rab office in Buriganga

The Star file photo shows the Rapid Action Battalion-10 puts a sign on a channel of the Buriganga in Kamrangirchar, claiming seven acres of land there. Only a year ago, the BIWTA dredged this part of the river and is planning to set up a dock.

The government has decided to cancel allocation of land for building an office of Rapid Action Battalion's unit No. 10 in the second channel of the Buriganga at Kamrangirchar.

The National Taskforce on River Conservation, at a special meeting today, decided to find an alternative site for the Rab-10 office.

Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain chaired the meeting held at the Secretariat.

The Rab-10 planned to set up a permanent office and residential quarters for its staff, filling up what is popularly known as second channel of the Buriganga.

"The taskforce instructed Dhaka district administration to find an alternative site for the elite force’s office," Shaikh Yusuf Harun, deputy commissioner of Dhaka, told The Daily Star.

The task force came up with the decision following a visit to the proposed site yesterday to see the actual state of the river in the face of ongoing ruthless encroachment and pollution, he said.

The land ministry had initiated a long-term lease of nearly seven acres of land in the Buriganga channel in favour of Rab, official sources said.     

There would not be existence of "anything called Buriganga original channel" had it been blocked for seven acres of land.

It was an active channel of the Buriganga and used to connect the Turag near Gabtoli and Aati Canal until Dhaka embankment was built in the late '80s.

Currently, this channel plays as the major drainage of storm water for the old town of the capital.