Slow death of Bongshi river

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Saturday, 04 February 2012

Author / Source : ANISUR RAHMAN KHAN

DHAKA, FEB 3: The government's initiative to save the Bongshi river, about 20 km north of the capital, from pollution has come to naught. Certain unscrupulous officials of the department of environment (DoE) and local officials of the department of land are hand in glove with some greedy industrialists. This unholy nexus is forcing the Bongshi to die a slow death. Violating the environment law, tons and tons of untreated industrial effluents are being dumped into the river, which connects the Jamuna, Dhaleswari and the Turag, once the source of fish supplies to the capital.
Over three lakh people of about 20 villages around the Savar Export Processing Zone (EPZ) are facing severe health problems owing to the unabated pollution.
Two decades ago, villagers of this area relied on the wetlands, like the Dholai Beel, for drinking water, washing and irrigation purposes. The once clear water has turned ink black because of the presence of toxic wastes from the factories.
There are about 100 different industries discharging their untreated wastes into the Bongshi, Dholai Beel and the Dholai canal in Savar. These include carpet mills, spinning mills, textile mills, pharmaceuticals, electrical and electronic goods, footwear and leather goods, garments, dyeing, metal, paper goods, plastic goods and hardware.
The villages most affected are Ra ja Ghat, Bhagolpur, Katlapur, Savar bazar, Nama bazar, Bayda para, Bank colony, Modhupur, Santaki, Kanda, Kaika Bari, Basak Bari, Dagortali, Sukandi, Bashbari, Majibari, Namopara, Nayapara and Nalam, where boro cultivation in winter suffers. Even fishing by villagers in other seasons has become a thing of the past.
Mohammad Munir Chowdhury, DoE director, told The Independent that they had conducted several drives against unscrupulous factory owners in the Savar area.
“We have fined many factory owners for polluting the environment and the Bongshi. The drive has failed to achieve the desired result owing to unknown reasons,” he said.
Abu Naser Khan, chairman of Paribesh Bacaho Andolan (PABA), said waterbodies like the Bongshi must be saved from pollutants.
“We urge the government to apply laws stringently against the encroachers and pollutants to free the area from environmental degradation threatening biodiversity,” he said.
The authorities should see to it that the factories operate with effluent treatment plants (ETPs), he noted. The natural flow of the river should be ensured round the year.
Local residents said they suffer from several ailments, including skin problems, typhoid, diarrhoea and hepatitis, spread by the polluted water.
Pollution of the river has also turned hundreds of acres of agricultural land barren, destroying alongside the ecosystem of the river and its flood plains, robbing them of fish and other aquatic life.
A farmer, Aminur Rahman of Raja Ghat village, said their farmland now produces less crops because of the industrial pollution.
“We are still cultivating our land only to feed our family, scooping out whatever we can,” he said in a choked voice.
Shyamol Das, a fisherman of Bhagolpur, said they abandoned their profession about 12 years ago as the fish disappeared from the river.
“Now it has become a dream to net any fish in the Bongshi,” he added.
The pollution level is so severe that no aquatic species can survive in these rivers during the lean period, according to a study by the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) with the help of the World Bank.
It is estimated that there are more than 7,000 industries of red, orange and green categories in and around Dhaka city. All are guilty of discharging more than 61 per cent of their raw wastes into the Turag, Balu, Buriganga, Shitalakhya and the Bongshi rivers, affecting in turn the Padma, Jamuna and the Meghna as these major rivers are inter-linked.