Turag a living being
HC declares in landmark verdict
UNB, Dhaka
In a historic verdict, the High Court on Wednesday declared the Turag River as a legal/juristic person or a living being to save the river from illegal encroachment. In its partial judgment, the HC bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice M Ashraful Kamal said Bangladesh, i.e. the humankind will fall in danger if rivers cannot be protected from encroachment and navigability problem.
The court was set to deliver the rest of the judgment yesterday with important directives to save the rivers. The court verdict came a day after experts and green activists demanded that the rivers be recognised as living being for saving those. The demand was made on Tuesday at the inaugural session of a two-day international conference titled River: A living Being being at Kuakata of Patuakhali.
The Environment and Forest Ministry enacted a law in 1995 making it mandatory for all industrial units to use effluent treatment plants (ETPs) to save river waters from pollution, but owners often flout the rule.
Following a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, the judicial probe committee had submitted a report with a list of names of illegal grabbers and structures on the banks of the Turag River. Later, the persons and the establishments were made a party in the case.
The court passed the verdict after hearing from the both sides.
In the judgment, the court said rivers are one of the media of humankinds survival. Governments of different countries are trying to protect rivers through enacting laws. If thered been no directive in the form of verdict, there might have been high rises over the Buriganga River or a housing estate of an illegal grabber over the Turag River. The High Court said it earlier issued various directives to protect the four rivers surrounding the capital. However, the defendants did not take any step to implement the directives.
