Govt prepares list of river encroachers across the country

Staff Reporter :
The government has prepared a list of river encroachers across the country and about 22,539 illegal structures so far have been evicted from the river banks till June 2021 to ensure natural river flow.
Besides, a total of 841.49 acres of river lands have been recovered during eviction drives.
State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said this while talking to reporters after attending a meeting of taskforce on rivers at the secretariat on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the National River Conservation Commission of Bangladesh (NRCCB) has identified more than 60,000 river encroachers across the country.
Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) under the Ministry of Shipping has been working since 2010 to prevent illegal occupation and pollution of the rivers around Dhaka.
“A list of illegal river occupiers has been prepared and the NRCCB is also working in this regard and we are also working to improve navigability of rivers,” the State Minister for Shipping said.
The government is very much careful to protect the country’s rivers, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said adding, “We are working to prevent encroachment and pollution of river banks. Besides, construction work walkways and eco-parks are underway. In case of pollution, the department concerned has strengthened monitoring system against polluters and the Ministry of Industry will take action in this regard.”
He further said that many industrial plants have ETPs, but they are not used properly.
The government has formed a taskforce and it will work to free the rivers surrounding Dhaka and the Karnaphuli River from illegal occupation, he said.
“We have been able to make people aware about river protection, which is our success and now people are keeping river water clean,” he added.
Already the government has collected 50 dredging machines to ensure navigability of the rivers and many channels have been recovered across the country for the movement of vessels, said Khalid.
Taskforce members including State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque, Standing Committee Chairman on Shipping Ministry Major (Retd) Rafiqul Islam, Shipping Ministry Secretary Md Mostafa Kamal, NRCCB Chairman Dr Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury and other senior officials attended the meeting.