Staff Reporter :
To save the city’s Gulshan Lake, one the most critical area under threat due to unabated dumping wastages, the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has taken initiative to revive the water body.
Visiting the lake on Tuesday, it was found that several excavators were chiseling the banks of the lake to expand its size while the age-old garbage was being pulled up from its bed.
The Gulshan Lake has been facing exploitations from the locals and others who used to dump wastages into the water body disregarding the ecological and environmental impact in the area.
Few months ago, The New Nation reported that the locals were dumping wastages and a makeshift bamboo bridge was erected over the lake near Gulshan Society Jame Mosque.
Following it, the concerned authority promptly responded to the report and demolished the makeshift bamboo bridge and warned the locals to refrain from dumping wastage into the lake.
Now the DNCC has started reviving the lake which has been appreciated by the locals as well.
They have realised that it is their onus to save the lake for environmental balance and garner multitudes of benefits out of the lake. Siraj Ahmed, a 60-year old man, told the New Nation that once the lake was crystal clear when it was connected with other water bodies.
“With the passage of time, many water bodies in the capital have died. Only a few have remained. The Gulshan Lake is also in a critical condition. Everyday people are dumping wastage into it,” he rued.
“If the pollution continues and the concerned authority does not take stringent steps, it will also die. This lake is the lifeline of this area as well as the capital.
We should protect it with all our might and foresightedness,” he stressed. Like Siraj Ahmed, many of the other locals said that whenever they see the lake in a pitiable condition with stinky black water, they feel sad.
They also said that sometimes they see some initiatives from the part of the concerned authority to protect the lake from encroachment and pollution, but it needs continuity to conserve the water body.
Former Additional Director General of Department of Environment and President of Environment and Climate Change Movement Abdus Sobhan told the New Nation on Tuesday that the initiative taken by the DNCC is really praiseworthy and important.
“But the DNCC should also find out the secrete sewerage lines connected with the lake and take legal action against the responsible people.
The solid waste and the garbage should immediately be stopped to protect the lake,” he said.
Earlier on March 16, DNCC and Gulshan Society jointly launched a drive for cleaning the lake. Students of six schools and workers of several social organisations also joined hands with DNCC to make the programme meaningful.