Can our rivers be saved?
Till 2019, Bangladesh experienced both positive and negative developments in the case of rivers.
Good developments include the High Court’s judgement declaring rivers as a “legal entity”; new energy that the government displayed in freeing rivers from encroachment; combating pollution.
However, despite such progress, the negative sides continue to outweigh the positive developments as of 2019.
The negative aspects include improper implementation of policies and directives; river activists not following the HC directives properly; converting the old channel of the Buriganga River into a lake that amounts to killing the river, violating the HC’s order to treat rivers as a living entity; trans-boundary river issues, etc.
Therefore, Bangladesh needs to gear up to protect its river system.
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