Supreme Court's welcome ruling

MONDAY'S Supreme Court (SC) ruling that upheld its 2010 verdict affirming a High Court order on the government to demarcate the areas of four rivers surrounding Dhaka and remove all structures therein excluding the government-built ones is welcome. With this landmark SC verdict, the government has now been freed of all legal barriers to removing privately constructed jetties and other structures from the rivers Sitalakhya, Balu, Turag and Buriganga.
It is worthwhile to note that the media and the civil society have been engaged in a long-drawn crusade against the various vested quarters' attempt to encroach on lands deep within the shorelines of these rivers and build illegal structures there.  But these powerful quarters went ahead with their evil designs, despite the public uproar. Even worse, by challenging in court the public interest litigations seeking redress against such destructive activities, those quarters have already caused inordinate delays in the government's effort to free up these rivers and thereby restore the delicate river ecosystem that cradles this historic city and its population.
Hopefully, the government would now go all out to make up for the lost time, demarcate the rivers and evict all illegal possessions falling within their boundaries determined by the administration.  At the same time, to save these dying rivers, it will also need to take measures with due immediacy to dredge them and remove silts that have been choking their natural flow.