Rivers of Dhaka
Most of the cities in the world were established on riverbanks. So was our Dhaka. It is endowed with four majestic rivers. But out of sheer greed and negligence we are killing these lively water flows, so rare around the world. A section of government officials particularly those involved in land administration are the root cause of such encroachments. Every encroachment is initiated by some sort of dubious paper works by such officials. So if we want to stop suffocation of rivers and reclaim encroached lands we should start from land offices.
The recent High Court ruling may serve as a wake up call for the government. But if any committee is formed for this purpose, people from different disciplines may be included. Fewer the number of bureaucrats, the better, because many of them might have actually served the encroaches when they worked at the field level. It should be borne in mind that even in colonial period, no river land was leased out to anybody. All these started after 1947 partition. The cab astral survey (C.S.) of 1908 may be taken as the base line.
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Bangladesh is a country full of rivers. But at present these river are being despatched to the pages of history. We read "Dhaka stands on the river Buriganga". This Buriganga is passing through a critical moment. Not only Buriganga, but also the other rivers around Dhaka city are going to die.
Everybody should come forward to save the rivers.
Mahfuzur Rahman Manik, IER, Dhaka University
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