Civic organisation urges dockyard eviction from Buriganga

The National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways today demanded the immediate removal of all structures, including dockyards, built on the banks of River Buriganga.

Committee President Mohammad Shahid Mia and General Secretary Ashish Kumar Dey made the appeal in a statement to the Ministry of Shipping and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.

Citing the information published in the media, the statement of the civic organisation says there are 27 dockyards (shipbuilding and repair factories) in an area of about 1.5 kilometres up to Telghat in Char Kaliganj on the bank between Shubhadhya Canal and Buriganga River in South Keraniganj upazila.

These dockyards have been built illegally inside the rivers. However, according to the verdict of the High Court, the construction of any kind of structure in the spaces of the river is prohibited.

In the statement, the national committee said that due to the construction of dockyards between the boundary pillars of the Buriganga, a large amount of solid and liquid waste is constantly falling into the river.

The water of Buriganga is getting severely polluted and its width is decreasing due to obstruction of water flow.

The leaders of the committee complained that hundreds of illegal structures have been built on important rivers nationwide like Dhaka’s Buriganga.

It is alleged in the statement that the rivers are not free from illegal occupation due to the indifference, negligence and dishonesty of a section of officers and employees of the Inland Water Transport Authority, Water Development Board, Department of Environment, Local Government Engineering Department and district and upazila administration.