Beautification of riverbanks
It is good to learn that the government has decided to develop the recently-reclaimed riverbanks around Dhaka city by planting trees under a social forestry scheme. Besides, the drive to remove more illegal occupations alongside the five riverbanks around the capital city is underway. There are reasons to feel delighted at the assurance of the shipping secretary that riverbanks across the country will be completely freed from encroachment in phases. Walkways, parking spaces, bicycle paths, amphitheatres, attractive parks, and other beautiful structures will be constructed alongside the riverbanks.
An open space with greenery is like a lung in the busy mega-city full of traffic snarls, smokes and dusts. People come to this place to have a respite from the monotonous routine life. An ideal city needs 25 per cent greenery and open spaces but there is only five per cent open ground and greenery in the old part of Dhaka and 12 per cent in the new part. In the circumstances the river banks will be a welcome relief for the city-dwellers. Many parks and open playgrounds have already been grabbed by governmental and non-governmental organisations.
In the past stern warnings issued against encroachment of water bodies including rivers failed to come out of the confines of rhetoric. Grabbing of wetlands by a section of influential people is contributing to the shrinkage of the wetlands. Scores of big and small rivers once crisscrossed the country, but many of them have died out, thanks to the unplanned construction of embankments and culverts, encroachments, absence of dredging, poor or a lack of water flow, unplanned urbanisation, siltation and climate change.
What is very unfortunate is that the regulatory bodies are not aware of the need to protect these valuable parks and open grounds. There are laws against encroachment of public places but execution of those is hardly noticed. The sufferers do not go to court because the entire process is cumbersome, time-consuming and expensive. Many cases run for years together. Successive governments showed lukewarm attitudes in recovering the lands. Taking advantage of it, the lawyers engaged by the grabbers with lucrative honorariums gained upper hand. The legal system for recovering the grabbed lands should be strengthened. It is the responsibility of the relevant authorities to take stern measures against the grabbers of riverbanks.
