Sounding a note of warning against the grabbing of city’s river banks, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal today said all illegal occupants of the river banks will be brought to justice.

“Don’t try to recapture the river-banks . . . All illegal occupants will be brought to justice,” he said while inaugurating the works of boundary pillars and walkways to protect the river bank in Kamrangirchar area in Dhaka.

Referring to the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to restore the past aesthetic beauty of the Buriganga river, he said work is going on to make the Buriganga a centre of entertainment within one year.

Speaking on the occasion, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said the government is working to free the rivers surrounding the capital from the grabbers and pollution.

“If anybody interferes in the process . . . he or she will have to face a dire consequence,” the state minister said, echoing the home minister.

As part of the government steps to erect proper boundary pillars and walkways to protect the rivers of Buriganga, Turag, Shitalakshay and Balu under the project of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), the work of the first phase began today, said a press release.

In the first phase, some 3803 RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) boundary pillars, one-kilometer walkway from Ramchandrapur to Bosila and Rayerbazar canal to Kamrangirchar and 2.5 km walkway will be set up along the river banks.

Under the project, the BIWTA will construct a 52-km walkway, 10,820 boundary pillars, three eco parks, two tourists-friendly parks, 19 RCC jetties, 100 RCC stairs and other necessary infrastructures to protect the rivers surrounding the capital.

The estimated cost of the project is Taka 844.55 crore. The project is scheduled to be completed on June 2022, the release added.

Former minister Advocate Quamrul Islam, MP, Haji Mohammad Salim, MP, shipping ministry secretary Md Abdus Samad, noted columnist and researcher Syed Abul Maksud, BITWA chairman Commodore M Mahbub-Ul-Islam and project director Nurul Alam, among others, were present.