Demolish illegal structures along foreshore of Turag: HC

The High Court today directed the authorities concerned to demolish the structures set up illegally along the foreshore of the Turag River at different places in Gazipur.

The chief judicial magistrate of Gazipur will take necessary steps to knock down the illegal structures with the help of government agencies including law enforcers after installing demarcation pillars on the foreshore, the court said.

The bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Mohammad Ullah passed the order after holding hearing on a petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh seeking necessary orders on the authorities to save Turag River from encroachment.

The chief judicial magistrate of Gazipur in October this year submitted a probe report before the HC, saying that 30 structures have been set up illegally along the foreshore of the Turag at different places in Gazipur, HRPB lawyer Advocate Manzill Murshid told The Daily Star today.

The HRPB had filed a writ petition with the HC on November 7 last year, a day after The Daily Star ran a report under the headline “Time to declare Turag dead”.

Following the petition, the HC on November 9 last year directed the government to stop earth-filling, encroachment and construction of structures along the foreshores of the Turag and also issued a rule upon the authorities concerned to explain why their inaction in stopping such activities should not be declared illegal.

During hearing the rule, the court on January 5 this year directed the chief judicial magistrate of Gazipur to probe if illegal structures were built along the foreshore of the Turag and to submit a report before it.

Under the HC order, the chief judicial magistrate of Gazipur submitted the probe report before it in October this year, saying that 30 structures have been set up illegally along the foreshore of the Turag and recommended knocking those down immediately to save the river from encroachment and pollution. 

The chief judicial magistrate also suggested the river be dredged and dumping of waste into the water body be stopped to keep the river navigable.

A 2009 landmark HC judgment had detailed measures on how to recover the ailing rivers from land grabbers and save them from pollution. The court ordered the administration to demarcate the boundary of five dying Dhaka rivers -- the Buriganga, the Balu, the Turag, the Shitalakkhya and the Dhaleshwari.

This apparently turned out to be the “death warrant” for the rivers. Demarcation pillars were reportedly set up along the river banks during the lean flow of dry season waterline, excluding a roughly estimated 2,500 acres of foreshores and wetlands of the five rivers.