Ctg MPs warned of legal consequences for ignoring orders of river protection body

Lawmakers and government officials of Chattogram district could face legal proceedings for ignoring the issue of the Karnaphuli River pollution despite a nearly 18-month old order from the government's river protection agency for evicting all illegal structures from the river bank, environmentalists have warned.

Aliur Rahman, general secretary of the Chattogram River and Canal Protection Movement, issued the warning, noting that the Cox's Bazar district administration also faced legal consequences in the past.

Lawmakers and officials should at least stage protests to reclaim the river bank from greedy and powerful polluters instead of maintaining a status quo, he remarked.

Aliur was speaking alongside a number of other environmental activists at a human chain formed Monday in the Sadarghat area of Chattogram city on the first day of a two-day protest. The movement has been arranged to coincide with the 7-9 November visit to Chattogram by Dr Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury, chairman of the state-run National River Conservation Commission.

In 2021, the commission ordered the removal of all illegal structures from the Karnaphuli river bank within two months after receiving a copy of the Supreme Court order in this regard, and a letter from Chattogram River and Canal Protection Movement.

As the order has not been honoured a year and a half later, Aliur demanded a speedy implementation of the directive – within 15 days – to remove all illegal structures. He also demanded district lawmakers and authorities quickly rescue the river bank from grabbers, begin dredging to revive navigability, and stop sand lifting projects on the river.

Dr Idris Ali, president of the Bangladesh Environment Forum, said river grabbers have almost succeeded in destroying the Karnaphuli river because the administration consistently looked the other way. The river cannot survive much longer when the waste of almost seven million residents of the port city is dumped into it and plastic pollution continues, making matters even worse. 

Once one of the strongest rivers in the country, the Karnaphuli now has almost no fish or other aquatic animals, Dr Idris said.

Organisers of the human chain called for a hunger protest by 200 boats on Wednesday from 6am to 2pm at the estuary of the Chaktai Canal and Karnaphuli river to press home their demands on saving the Karnaphuli.

Others present at the human chain included Dilruba Khanam, writer and executive member of the Chattogram River and Canal Protection Movement, and environmental activist Nesar Ahmed Khan.