Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
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Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

Save rivers for our own interest

Published : Thursday, 18 March, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 828
Md Zillur Rahaman
Bangladesh has one of the largest river networks in the world with a total number of about 700 rivers including tributaries, which have a total length of about 24,140 km. For this, Bangladesh is called a riverine country. Only 40-50 years ago, the main way of transportations of this country was waterway. The major cities of this country are situated on the banks of rivers. But, sadly, some of the rivers have already been declared dead.

Garbage dumping and river grabbing are the major causes behind the abysmal situation of the rivers. Due to illegal occupation, the width of rivers is decreasing and due to excessive garbage being dumped into the river, the river bottom is filled with garbage. As a result, the rivers of our country are losing navigability and fish are also dying. People of this country were called 'fish and rice make a Bengali.'

But over time, the people of this country moved away from its past traditions. Loss of navigability and filling of the bottom of the rivers are causing severe floods every year. Hundreds of people are losing their lives, damage to crops, economic loss of billions. Extra floods are causing river erosion. Thousands of families are losing everything because of this, every year there are many people losing their homes.

The rivers of Bangladesh mark both the physiography of the nation and the life of the people. About 700 in number, these rivers generally flow from North to south. The larger rivers serve as the main source of water for cultivation and as the principal arteries of commercial transportation. Rivers also provide fish, an important source of protein. Flood during the monsoon season causes enormous hardship and hinders development, but fresh deposits of rich silt replenish the fertile but overworked soil. The rivers also drain excess monsoon rainfall into the Bay of Bengal. Thus, the great river system is at the same time the country's principal resource and its greatest hazard.

Need to say, this is a man-made disaster. Although the government has repeatedly enacted laws, it is unable to enforce the law for political reasons. All the governments of Bangladesh have failed to enforce the law properly. From the capital city of the country to the remote areas, river grabbing and illegal dumping of sand in river are going on. During the summer and winter, the river is dried and the local influential people and politicians extract sand.

Lack of public awareness is one of the major causes of river pollution. And unplanned industries are draining all their waste into the rivers. Even all the garbage in Dhaka city with a population of 200 million is being dumped in the river Buriganga by the government drain. Consequently, water has become darker and spread stinky smell. There is sarcastically said that if anyone wants to commit suicide, it is enough to drink a glass of water of Buriganga.

The water from these contaminated rivers is being drained into other rivers. Thus, other rivers are being polluted. We know, the city that has more industrial factories, the people of the city are more for different reasons. But in this country, the city has more industrial factories, the population is more. The city becomes more polluted and the city's rivers are also more polluted.

And because of these polluted cities and polluted rivers, the disease transmission of people in those cities is even higher. Gazipur and Narayanganj cities on the outskirts of Dhaka are also being heavily industrialized. As a result, the Shitalakshya River in Narayanganj and the Turag River in Gazipur are also reaching the level of pollution at Buriganga.

The chemical waste of mills and factories, household waste, medical waste, sewage, dead animals, plastics, and oil are some of the pollutants. The city of Dhaka discharges about 4,500 tons of solid waste every day and most of it is released into the Buriganga. According to the Department of Environment, 21,600 cubic metres (5.7 million US gallons) of toxic waste are released into the river by the tanneries every day.

Experts identified nine industrial areas in and around the capital city as the primary sources of river pollution i.e. Tongi, Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Tarabo, Narayanganj, Savar, Gazipur, Dhaka Export Processing Zone and Ghorashal. Most of the industrial units of these areas have no sewage treatment or effluent treatment plants (ETPs) of their own.

Bangladesh is also an agricultural country. The rivers help us in agriculture. The prosperity of her agriculture depends on these rives. We get many kinds of fishes from these rivers. Fish is our important wealth. Our fishermen catch a huge quantity of fish. They earn a lot of foreign exchange by exporting fish. Our rivers are important for communication and transport. Boats, Launches and steamers move on these rivers. Men and goods are carried from one place to another and one port to another port. But the pollution threatens the biodiversity of the rivers and whose livelihoods are dependent on rivers.

Previously, a group of environmentalists attempted to form a river patrolling team to save the Buriganga and other rivers from extreme pollution. The group was concerned about the contamination of the rivers around the capital and demanded immediate action. The government has been criticised for its inability or unwillingness to stop the industrial units of the city from releasing untreated waste into the water.

If river pollution continues, one day all the rivers of this country will become polluted and become dead river. The riverine Bangladesh will take the form of a dead river country. However, our efforts can still help Bangladesh to restore its rivers.
 The writer is a banker and
freelance contributor



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