Save disaster-stricken Sundarbans

A tanker carrying 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil sank in a Sundarbans river on December 9, 2014 spilling the oil over a vast area. It caused unimaginable damage to the world's largest mangrove forest. The hearts of sixteen crore people of Bangladesh also sank with it because Sundarbans is their priceless heritage. Now the mangrove forest is in grave danger. Creatures living in the water and on the shore have started to die; trees are withering away; people living in that area are in great hardship as their earnings have suffered a great blow.

If that route had not been used for vessel movement, this sort of incident would not have happened and Sundarbans would have remained safe. Vessel movement must be stopped immediately through the Sundarbans' rivers. We are appalled by the fact that shipping minister Shajahan Khan has rejected the environment ministry's repeated pleas for imposing a permanent ban on plying of commercial vessels through Shela river in Sundarbans.

Whatever is needed to save the heritage site must be done without any delay.

Nur Jahan
Chittagong