Calls to save Sakha Borak fall on deaf ears

Years of reckless illegal encroachment and indiscriminate pollution have left Sakha Borak river in Nabiganj upazila of Habiganj practically on deathbed.

Once a vibrant lifeline to the residents of Nabiganj, the river is now shrunken to resemble a narrow drain, while being used to dump wastes collected from the municipality.

Local residents from all walks of life have long been calling upon the authorities concerned for urgent steps to clean the river and restore its flow to rejuvenate it to former glory. The authorities, however, seem to have turned a deaf ear to their calls.

"Even 15 years back, boats carrying 500 maunds of cargo, including paddy, bricks, sand and bamboo, used to float in the river. It also drained away rainwater during monsoon. Now, the river is no longer navigable, and has become a dumping ground for wastes from the municipality's household and kitchen markets' wastes, while becoming a shrunken drain due to encroachment," said Rahim Uddin, 70, a local resident.

Following orders of the then deputy commissioner of Habiganj Kamrul Hasan in March 2020, the upazila administration, along with the Bangladesh Water Development Board and upazila land office, took initiative to evict the river's encroachers and 101 illegal establishments were identified, said Sony Chowdhury, former secretary of Nabiganj Press Club.

"It was a ray of hope for the residents of Nabiganj upazila," he said.

"After some structures were evicted, the campaign, unfortunately, had to be stopped abruptly due to pandemic. Later on, no steps were taken to resume the eviction of encroachers, despite repeated calls from the local residents to this end," he added.

"Our childhood memories are largely centred on the river. We would cross the river swimming, and watch the large boats carrying wedding parties. The river used to be the only waterway for transporting goods to Nabiganj market from different parts of the country. Those days are long gone," said Emran Miah of Anmanu village in the upazila.

"Our municipal administration collects the town's garbage and dumps it into this river daily. As a conscious citizen, I earnestly appeal to the municipality mayor to stop this practice and let the river breathe," said Faizur Rob Poni.

Echoing the same, Tanuj Roy, principal of Dinarpur College in the upazila and also convener of Rivers Wings, a platform working on preserving rivers, said, "They are not only dumping wastes but also incinerating those in the evening, which causes dense toxic fumes that are jeopardising the residents' well-being."

"After I was first elected as mayor, I started a drive jointly with the BWDB to protect Sakha Barak, which got suspended due to the pandemic. We hope to resume the drive soon under the initiative of the municipality to save the river from encroachers," said Sabir Ahmed Chowdhury, mayor of Nabiganj Municipality.

"Since there is no dumping ground for municipal wastes, the cleaners sometimes discard the garbage in the river without our permission. We are trying to take alternative measures to prevent this," he added.