Own Correspondent: The Chairman of National River Protection Commission has ordered to stop the construction work of Karnaphuli Drydock Limited under construction on the bank of Karnaphuli river. Manzoor Ahmed Chowdhury. He directed the Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong to submit a report to the River Protection Commission within seven days after implementing this directive.
The Chairman of the River Protection Commission gave this instruction after a review meeting regarding the ‘occupation and pollution of the Karnaphuli River and other rivers, canals, reservoirs and reservoirs’ at the Chittagong District Commissioner’s office on Wednesday (November 9).
He said that an expert team will be formed on the matter of Karnaphuli drydock. That team will determine what happened there and how to rescue the river. Until then the work will be stopped. Chairman of River Protection Commission said, Karnaphuli river is important not only for Chittagong but for the whole country. This river is the life line of Bangladesh. 95 percent of the country’s imports and exports are handled through this river. If the flow or navigability of the Karnaphuli river is affected in any way then the economy of Bangladesh will suffer greatly.
Dr. Chairman of River Protection Commission. Manzoor Ahmed Chowdhury said, on Tuesday morning, I visited the Badalpura area of Anwara on the ground. Some other institutions including Karnaphuli Drydock have been built next to Bangladesh Marine Academy. We have visited the site and analyzed various data and found that these institutions have been built completely occupying the river. Those that have been encroached should be freed. He said that almost all parts of the Karnaphuli drydock are located in the river. This Fishery Ghat (New Fishery Ghat established by Jatiya Matsyajeevi Cooperative Samity opposite Chaktai Sheep Market), all the ice mills here were in the river. It is very unfortunate. There are many government agencies here. How did the city corporation, CDA, port, district administration seize a river in front of their eyes? This cannot be accepted.
In particular, Karnaphuli Drydock is being built by private enterprise on 30 acres of land purchased from private ownership and leased from Port Authority and Ministry of Lands at Badlapur Mauza in Chittagong’s Anwara.
Programs of various organizations to protect Karnaphuli River:
Meanwhile, according to the order of the High Court, the Chittagong River and Canal Protection Movement is on a hunger strike to demand the eviction of illegal constructions on the banks of the Karnaphuli river. On Wednesday (November 9) from 6 o’clock in the morning, more than two hundred sampan sailors went on hunger strike in the middle of the river for 8 hours. They demanded to preserve more than 250 forest and medicinal trees on the banks of the river by removing all the illegal structures within the next 15 days. Otherwise, they said that they will go to the court with a complaint of contempt of the court order.
Aliur Rahman, general secretary of the river and canal protection movement, said that despite the specific order to evict 2 thousand 181 illegal structures, why are they not being evicted even in three and a half years? Do we assume that the occupiers are stronger than the district administration than the government? Chittagong River and Canal Protection Movement Adviser Marine Expert Professor Noman Ahmed Siddiqui, Green Fingers Co-Founder Abu Sufian Rashed, Ritu Farabi, Senior Vice President of Karnaphuli River Sampan Majhi Kalyan Samiti Federation Zafar Ahmed, Vice President Lokman Dayal and others spoke. .
Besides, the environmentalist organization People’s Voice has given a written proposal to the National River Protection Commission to immediately take 8 steps to protect the Karnaphuli river. On Tuesday night in the conference room of Chittagong Circuit House, Chairman of River Protection Commission. The organization’s president Sharif Chauhan, journalist Mithun Chowdhury and other leaders of the organization gave these proposals to Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury.
Among the proposals made by People’s Voice are- De-encroachment of river land from Karnaphuli estuary to Kalurghat as directed by the High Court, Publication of the list of illegal structures prepared by the Chittagong district administration as per the order of the court and completion of the eviction process as per the list within the specified time frame, river bed Regular dredging to prevent inundation and eviction of illegal structures to free flow of water in connected canals. To prevent river pollution, installation of mandatory ETPs in industries located on both sides and regular inspection by the Department of Environment to ensure that ETPs are effective, along with the proposal to set up treatment plants at the mouths of city canals to prevent sewage pollution and stop dumping of fuel and waste from small boats including lighters plying in the river, are also proposed. To take drastic measures. In order to keep the Karnaphuli river completely free of encroachment, it is demanded to take measures through the district administration to prevent re-occupation of the recovered river land and to cancel the illegal lease on the river land.
