When protector turns polluter

The Sundari canal in Chattogram's Hathazari upazila is facing a severe environmental crisis due to indiscriminate dumping of garbage by the municipality.

As the state agency, who is the custodian of the canal, has been dumping household wastes for years, a portion of the canal has already turned into a narrow drain, obstructing the waterflow of this waterbody.

The landfill, adjacent to the canal, was established in 2013 without obtaining environmental clearance from the Department of Environment (DoE).

The canal, around 5km in length, started from Jangalchari and ended at Subedar Pukur area under the upazila.

This correspondent visited the spot on Saturday and observed that a huge amount of plastic packets of chips, biscuits and several types of single use plastic (SUP) were lying along the banks on both sides of the canal.

Sultan Ahmed, a resident of the Madhyakhil area near the landfill, said, "It is unbearable for me and my family to stay home when the bad smell spreads after the municipality dumps the garbage."

Mansur Alam, a resident of the Rangipara area, regularly cultivates crops using water from the hilly canal.

"Sometimes the canal water turns black during discharge of untreated wastewater from the landfill into the waterbody," he added.

A protected forest, around 50 acres, is located near the landfill. Due to dumping garbage next to the forestland, some trees have already died.

Anwarul Islam, forester of the Hathazari Forest Office, said he verbally urged officials of the municipality to take measures to shift the landfill.

According to the Environmental Conservation Act, filling a canal (waterbody) is a punishable offence.

Nur Hasan Sajib, an assistant director of DoE, Chattogram, who has been transferred to Noakhali recently, confirmed that the municipality is using the land as a landfill without obtaining permission from DoE.

"We asked the authorities several times to set up a waste management plant. But they don't heed to our instructions," he claimed.

Lokman Hossain, a activist and resident of the upazila, said the environmental destruction is going on in broad daylight.

Asked why the municipality is violating the law and dumping waste in open spaces and the waterbody, Biplab Muhuree, secretary of the Hathazari municipality, said they are trying to set up a waste management plant.

"We are working to buy land to establish a plant. But we are facing a shortage of funds," he claimed.

He also admitted they established the existing landfill without getting permission from the authorities concerned as they had no space to dump the collected waste.