A shrinking Buriganga is nature's wake-up call to us
Preventing and punishing river encroachers vital for its restoration
A recent study has discovered that a whopping 16-kilometre stretch of Buriganga River has been lost to encroachment by real estate developers and locals. With the use of advanced technology, researchers concluded that the actual length of the river is 41km, but currently, there is flowing water on just 25 kilometres. This once again illustrates the flaws of our so-called development model where nothing seems to matter except concrete structures, least of all our natural resources.
Over the years, influential people have been able to fill up the Buriganga mostly due to the indifference of government agencies. Large parts of the water bodies connected to it have been filled by factories and business establishments. Out of the 1,092 boundary pillars set up to demarcate the river, 718 are broken and 114 are missing. By comparing satellite images from 1990 to 2020, the study found a 37.67 percent of increase in settlements on the river, with the area occupied by residential and commercial buildings growing from 176.46 square kilometres in 1990 to 201.67 square kilometres in 2020. At present, there are 108 factories, 43 shipyards, 23 small factories, 22 industrial establishments, 19 warehouses and 17 brick kilns on its banks.
The government has eight projects worth Tk 3,294 crore for the restoration of the Buriganga. But none of them have produced any meaningful result. So, on the one hand, it has totally failed to restore the river while, on the other, it has wasted thousands of crores of taxpayer's money in the process. Despite a number of High Court directives urging government agencies to save it, the river has literally been used as a dumping ground over the last few decades, polluting it to an extent that it can hardly nurture aquatic life now.
The government must take responsibility for the harm that is being done to the Buriganga, and to us by extension. And it must immediately begin a serious drive to evict river grabbers, ensure its proper water flow, and stop all sources of prevention.