BIWTA Drive to Free Turag
Sand removed, trader fined
This photo taken about a year ago depicts land grabbers choking the Turag at Sinnirtek in Mirpur in the capital. The BIWTA and Dhaka district administration began to restore the river to its original state but they employed a handful of workers, inset. It would take a long time to finish the job at this pace.Photo: STAR
The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) in a drive yesterday fined a sand trader Tk 40,000 for encroaching on the river Turag in the capital. The eviction team also removed heaps of sand from the foreshore of the river at Shinnirtek in Mirpur but they failed to realise the fine as the trader went into hiding. Dhaka District Administration along with BIWTA began the three-day drive on Thursday. “We fined Jahir who had grabbed the bank of Turag river, north of Shinnirtak landing station,†said Shahidullah, deputy director (port) of BIWTA, who led the drive on the second day. However, he said they recovered 18,000 cubic feet of sand and sold it for Tk 40,000 at auction. Environmentalists and locals are sceptical about the outcome of the drive, saying similar drives in the past were carried out but to no avail as soon after the drives ended, the grabbers resumed their activities with full vigour. Over the last few years, sand traders, many of them with strong political backings, have started filling up rivers, canals and other water bodies in and around the capital On the first day of the drive, a BIWTA team seized about 1.80 lakh cubic feet of sand and sold it for Tk 3.33 lakh at auction. The team also seized 30 pipes used for piling and some 350 bamboos used for occupying the riverbank. Two excavators and 30 day labourers took part in the second day of the dive which began at 8:30am and continued till 4:30pm.
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