Drive fails to remove all earth filled in Shitalakkhya
The joint team of water transport authority and Narayanganj district administration could remove around one-sixth of earth deposits from the filled-up section of the river Shitalakkhya during the three-day drive that concluded yesterday.
According to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), a 220-foot wide and 1500 feet long stretch to the north of Kanchpur Bridge to Shimrail mouja has three-lakh square feet of earth deposits.
The drive had removed 40,000 to 50,000 square feet deposits from the area, said BIWTA officials.
Executive Magistrate Md Jahirul Islam, who led the drive, said the district administration would undertake further drive next week to free the river from the rest of the deposits.
“The situation is such that we have to go for more excavation drives,” he said.
The unlicensed traders not only destroyed the river ecology and its navigable channel but also deprived the government of huge revenue by unloading and stacking construction materials illegally.
Traders of construction materials have encroached on the river and reduced its width almost by half in Shimrail mouja in Shiddhirganj near the bridge.
The authorities have also identified around 60 unauthorised traders, who occupy the river foreshores in Shimrail, Anti, Joka, Shiddhirganj and Ruposhi moujas by piling up sand, stone and boulders.
Two excavators were engaged in the drive to remove the deposits while two bulkhead vessels and trucks were used to carry them away under the supervision of BIWTA officials.
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