How are encroachers getting away with frequent onslaughts on riverbanks?

It’s alarming to learn that illegal structures have sprouted again on the banks of Bakkhali River in Cox’s Bazar, just months after the eviction drive.

There were allegations that the drive targeted only two out of 131 listed encroachers, and was mostly a publicity stunt.

The authorities have failed to safeguard even those reclaimed riverside stretches.

This brazen display of defiance and incompetence underscores the continued threat to the river’s ecological integrity.

According to a recent newspaper report, about 200 structures, particularly around the much-coveted Kuruskul Bridge, were demolished only on February 28 and March 1 this year.

The Bakkhali River, originating from the mountainous terrain of Naikhongchhari Upazila in Bandarban and falling into the Maheshkhali channel in Cox’s Bazar, is one of the major rivers traversing through the Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar region.

However, over the decades, it has been ravaged by a relentless onslaught of encroachment.

Reportedly, many structures — from makeshift docks, cold storages and fishing stations to fish and dried fish farms, truck stops, sand sales points, and residences — were constructed by destroying vast areas of artificial coastal forests.

There were also disturbing reports of forests being deliberately set ablaze to clear land for illegal construction.

In 2013, even the local municipality allegedly joined in by dumping garbage along the riverbanks, further impeding the natural flow of the river.

In 2020, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) identified 131 individuals and organisations as river occupiers, many of whom evaded legal action. They didn’t even have to relinquish their encroached land.

Additionally, in a 1990 survey, a number of people were somehow enlisted as private owners of what is clearly river land, an issue that remains unresolved even today.

In 2016, the High Court ordered the district administration to hand over 270 acres of land to the BIWTA for conservation; this order has yet to be implemented, with allegations of money influencing the situation.

It is hard to believe that the blatant encroachment of the Bakkhali River is happening under the nose of the district administration and the National River Conservation Commission.

The encroachment of the previously evicted lands is simply an intentional disregard for the law.

We strongly ask the authorities concerned to investigate the matter thoroughly and take immediate action to reclaim land from the encroachers.