Stop polluting Khanjar haor

We are alarmed to learn about the unrestrained pollution of a haor in Sylhet's Moulvibazar area. According to a report in The Daily Star, factories in the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Industrial Estate have been discharging untreated industrial waste into the Khanjar haor for about two decades, and hardly any action has been taken to stop this. This has not only made its water toxic – making it unsuitable for the fish population and other aquatic creatures – but also resulted in the loss of fertility of nearby arable land.

According to locals, hundreds of farming families are being affected by the activities of the factories located in the BSCIC estate. The soil quality there is reportedly so bad that it has become impossible for the farmers to cultivate paddy or other crops. Plants and soil in the neighbouring village have also turned black, as disclosed by an investigative team of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) in June.

Many factories are still unwilling to use ETPs despite there being strict directives from the government to use those. Cutting the cost of production is certainly one motive behind their noncompliance.

The question is, why are factories dumping untreated waste in the haor when they are required to treat it in the Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) set up on their compounds? What could possibly be the reasons for not utilising the ETPs? As we have also seen in other cases, many factories are still unwilling to use ETPs despite there being strict directives from the government to use those. Cutting the cost of production is certainly one motive behind their noncompliance. But many ETPs were also found to be faulty and lack the necessary components to treat different kinds of pollutants, as seen in the case of Savar tanneries. These tanneries would once pollute the Buriganga River when they were located in Hazaribagh. Now, after being shifted to Savar, they are doing the same in the Dhaleshwari River, thanks to the ineffectiveness of the central ETP at the Savar tannery estate.

Industrial pollution has already killed many of our rivers and canals. Despite the gravity of the situation, the government has done little to check this disastrous development. We urge the government to be tough on the polluters of our water bodies. The ETPs in all factories near them must be fully functional. In the case of the Moulvibazar BSCIC Industrial Estate, the government must ensure that all factories comply with the rules. They must be punished if they fail to do so.