The Atir Khal, once a brimming canal serving thousands on its course in the western fringe of the capital, looks doomed, as a real state developer has totally filled it up at Waaspur end.
The total area filled up of the 10-kilometre-long canal measures at least two acres.
The Waaspur Garden City Cooperative Society with about 50 members has also demarcated a large area of the canal beneath Looterchar bridge with a view to filling it up.
They claim that Atir Khal has never been a canal and the area belongs to hundreds of people who were rightfully taking possession of their plots.
In June 2009, as soon as the filling up of the canal started, The Daily Star reported about it with several follow-ups in the following month. The Dhaka deputy commissioner’s office, responsible for the protection of the canal, has so far taken no action whatsoever to save the age-old Atir Khal although each time the officials said they would seriously look into the matter.
Additional Commissioner (Land) Fouzia Begum told The Daily Star that she would look into the matter. “Even if it is a private property, the wetland protection laws strictly prohibits filling it up,” she observed.
Shahina Khatun, UNO of Keraniganj, said with twelve unions and three major rivers flowing through it, Keraniganj land administration office is grossly understaffed. “With three field-level land officers for hundreds of housing projects in the area, governance becomes too tough if not impossible,” said the UNO.
Meanwhile, M Masud Karim, additional deputy commissioner (Revenue), told The Daily Star that he was not aware of the matter.
“As far as I can remember, we have been using Atir Khal for commuting and transporting,” said Abdul Bashet, a 70-year old farmer of Ghatarchar.
Rahom Chaan Mia, 75, of Ati Bazar area said, “Since boyhood, I have been depending on Atir Khal for irrigation, commuting and transporting farm products to the city. Now, most of the low-lying areas, including canals, have become the target of a land hungry section. How can just someone come and claim the canal to be their property?”
“With land price rocketing and the demand for land rising by the day, the government has to be much more strict to save our canals and rivers,” said Rahom Chaan.
The officials of Waaspur Garden City Cooperative Society said they have legal documents dating back to the British era for the land they claim to be theirs. The canal was created when the landowners sold topsoil to build the Dhaka flood protection embankment, claimed the secretary of the cooperative.
The 10-kilometre long Atir Khal originates from Waaspur and runs through Looterchar, Ghatarchar, Emargaon, Ati Bazaar, Panchdana, Balurchar, Bhangabari and Nawabchar areas before meeting the Buriganga again at Kolamora.
