Lifeline of Dhaka city endangered by canal encroachers

Staff Reporter :
The lifeline of Dhaka city has been endangered both ecologically and environmentally as most of the 50 canals and Khals have been occupied by various powerful elites who have constructed different commercial or residential establishments on the lands of these waterbodies.

Over times the encroachers have filled up the banks of these water reservoirs gradually by chocking the depth and width of the main canals and Khals criss-crossed the entire Dhaka city.

Sources said that the encroachers have become so powerful in connivance with dishonest officials of the government offices that it has become difficult to reclaim the Khals easily.

Environmentalists said that with the expansion of the burgeoning capital,
the existing marshy lands, canals, Khals and the surrounding four rivers Buriganga, Balu, Turag and Shitalakhya are facing serious problems of encroachment.

They observed that the saving of the existing canals and Khals are essential to save the city, its population as well as the future generation.

Amid this situation, both the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) have started trying to reclaim the canals and Khals to save the city and to make it environment friendly for the ever-increasing population.

But the occupiers are so powerful that the two city fathers sometimes go through different hurdles including legal complexities.

They, however, have not knelt down before the external pressures and have been continuing their drives to recover the canals and Khals from the grips of the encroachers.