Speakers at a public gathering on Tuesday stressed the need for immediate recovery of four canals in the city from grabbers to save the environment of the capital.
They also condemned lawmaker Aslamul Haque’s interference in the drive of a task force to recover a canal and criticised the government for its failure to implement its declaration to free the city canals including Atir Khal at Mohammadpur, Ramchandrapur Khal at Kalyanpur, Kalyanpur ‘Ka’ and ‘Kha’ canal from grabbers within October of this year.
They also urged the government to bring the land grabbers to book and give them exemplary punishment immediately for protecting the city.
They placed the demands at a public gathering, organised by Sammilita Jaladhar Rakkha Andolan, in front of the faculty of fine art of Dhaka University.
Speaking at the programme, Sammilita Jaladhar Rakkha Andolan member Raju Hamid said the government should recover the canals from the grabbers. He also expressed his concern over people’s representative’s involvement in land grabbing.
General secretary of Green Belt Trust Jasim Khatabi said formulation of laws against land grabbers would remain ineffective unless they were properly implemented.
Former general secretary of the Bangladesh Environment Movement Mohidul Haque Khan alleged that the law enforcers were also protecting the canal grabbers.
