Filling up Turag River
Six sand traders fined Tk 14.6 lakh, one held
Government authorities during a drive against earth filling of Turag River yesterday fined six sand traders, arresting one of them, and removed a huge amount of sand dumped beyond the river foreshore on the eastern bank of Gabtoli area. A Department of Environment (DoE) enforcement team carried out the drive, inspired by news reports of The Daily Star during the current week on mindless river encroachment, said Mohammad Munir Chowdhury, DoE director (monitoring and enforcement). DoE in a press release said the team realised Tk 14.6 lakh from the traders for filling up the river and removed 30,000 square feet of sand dumped on the river and another 200 sacks of sand. It also evicted three makeshift structures of the sand traders and seized four metric tonnes of iron equipment used for sand extraction. The team arrested one Hazi Shahabuddin, a sand trader who piled up sand on the river foreshore, and fined him Tk 1 lakh. The other trading organisations penalised include Elin Enterprise, Saralata Sand Suppliers, Ismita Traders, Adi Rahman Enterprise and Babul Enterprise. DoE declared Turag River an ecologically critical area in September 2009 and earlier conducted two similar drives. Munir, who led the team, told The Daily Star that Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority should stop randomly renting out river foreshore for sand trading. According to a competent source, unscrupulous sand traders, in most cases, indulge in river grabbing in connivance with local police.
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