Remove illegal structures on Dhaka rivers by Nov

HC orders government
The High Court on Sunday ordered the government to begin a drive in a month to demolish and remove illegal structures on the bank of the four rivers surrounding Dhaka — Balu, Turag, Buriganga and Sitalakhya.
The High Court bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui asked the government to complete the removal of illegal structures on the river banks by November and report to the court the progress of the drive every three months.
The court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Manzill Murshid on behalf of the rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh in pursuant to the High Court verdict delivered on June 25, 2009 detailing a series of directives to stop encroachment on the four rivers.
Manzill moved the petition seeking a court order on the government to remove on the banks of the four rivers illegal structures identified in the first-ever survey on the Buriganga, Sitalakhya, Turag and Balu rivers flowing through Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Munshiganj.
According to the survey reports, submitted to the court on December 15, 2009, thousand acres of land of the four rivers have been encroached on by 5,165 people, causing poor navigability and unabated pollution.
Four thousand and twenty-one people have set up 8,021 structures on the rivers in city, 1,144 people have encroached on the land in part of the district, 3,010 people have encroached on 115 acres of land in Narayanganj and 3,010 structures have been identified to be illegally set up by encroachers in Gazipur, the reports said.
The reports identified 5,165 grabbers and 14,041 illegal on the four rivers.
The deputy commissioners of the districts prepared the reports after conducting separate surveys on the four rivers around the capital in keeping with the High Court directives which asked the government to demarcate the boundaries of the four rivers according to the cadastral survey in four months and report on the matter to the court by December 15, 2009.
The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed on June 25, 2009 also ordered on-site demarcation of the river boundary by May 31, 2010 by setting up pillars, demolishing all illegal structures and removing the dirt dumped from inside the boundaries without any discrimination.
The costs of the demolition of illegal structures and removal of the dirt dumped unlawfully may be recovered from the offenders under the Public Demands Recovery Act, the court said.
The court ordered construction of boundary walls and walkways along the river and planting of trees in rows by May 31, 2011.
It also asked the Dhaka City Corporation, municipalities concerned and the Public Works Department to plant trees along the river areas in their jurisdiction.
The court had also ordered the government to declare the four rivers as Ecologically Critical Area under the Environment Protection Act 1995 and the Environment Protection Rules 1997. Accordingly, the government declared the four rivers as Ecologically Critical Area on September 1, 2009.
The court passed the orders and made observations in its judgement in a public interest litigation writ petition filed by rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh seeking directives on the government to protect the four rivers from being polluted and encroached on. The Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association also became party to the case.
In the verdict, the court, however, had not disposed of the case, saying it would continue until the four rivers were brought back to their original shape.

Courtesy of NewAgebd