Publish the list of all river encroachers as soon as possible

Alarmingly, the National River Conservation Commission (NRCC) has not published the list of 57,000 new encroachers of 48 rivers. The commission, however, is hoping to publish the list of river encroachers and establishments anytime soon even after spending about Tk 30 crore on the protection of 48 rivers over the past five years under a project.
The commission attributes the delay to cross-checking the lists by the Water Development Board, deputy commissioners’ offices concerned and the Department of Environment that prepared the rolls. It has been alleged that the incumbent NRCC chairman is busy protecting the encroachers rather than watching the river. The grabbers are powerful to change the chairman, making him a titular head.
Former Chairman of River Conservation Commission Mujibur Rahman Howladar has complained that the incumbent in the name of revaluation is shielding the grabbers. The real reason for revising the list will come out after taking into account the assets of those who are being entrusted with the task of verifying the list of river grabbers.
The importance of rivers for Bangladesh lies in the fact that some mighty rivers and hundreds of their tributaries and distributaries carried billions of tonnes of alluvial soil over millions of years and created this deltaic plain. The rivers also determined the distinct ecology and environment and shaped the livelihood of the people living in catchment areas. Any ruinous impact on the rivers will have a damaging effect on the flora and fauna there. Rivers are the lifeline of the people of Bangladesh. It hardly needs to be said why rivers should be protected from pollution, death and encroachment.
Given the essential nature of the rivers for our life and livelihood, awareness exists at the mass level about the urgency of dredging the rivers to bring back navigability in them and the government is also going to take steps to reclaim the lost and dead rivers. But vested quarters are bent on grabbing riverbanks and riverbeds to serve their narrow interests.
A section of the people living nearby the rivers and industry owners use the watercourses as grounds for dumping wastes of all kinds. Pollution and encroachment are the deadliest enemies of the watercourses. Rivers should be protected at any cost.