Dhaka in peril for river neglect

Seminar told
River management failure has put the capital Dhaka “on the verge of extinction” just like other ancient capitals in the area that also went extinct for similar failures.
The warning was voiced by a paper presented at a seminar yesterday in celebration of 400 years of Dhaka City.
“Ancient capitals that were situated in the area were destroyed due to river erosion. It was river erosion that forced the people of this land to shift their ancient capitals. And now it is the dying rivers that are likely to force us to shift our capital once again,” said Dr Iftekhar Iqbal who presented the paper titled An Environmental History of Dhaka.
Asiatic Society of Bangladesh organised the seminar titled The History, Heritage, and Urban Issues of Capital Dhaka.
Dr Iqbal said ancient capitals situated in Wari Bateshwar dating back between 600 BC and 100 BC, Sonargaon, and Bikrampur met their sad demise mainly due to river erosion.
He said in the mid 19th century when people of this land began to put obstacles on flowing rivers with the advent of railway, the rivers started to dry up. He also said flood is not a problem for Bangladesh, rather water logging caused by different barrages is the real problem.
“The entire environment of this area has been disrupted over the years due to unplanned development. Planning should be environmentally honest,” said Prof A Mumin Chowdhury who also expressed dissatisfaction over the ongoing “unplanned effort” to dredge the Buriganga river.
He said unplanned construction of roads also pushed the rivers of the country to their present sorry state.
“We have to expand our thinking. We must have plans for reclaiming all our rivers across the country,” said Prof Shaheda Rahman who presided over the seminar held in Dhaka University Senate Hall.
Manish Chakraborti, an architect from Kolkata, Prof Dr Abu Sayed M Ahmed, Prof Syed Mahmudul Hasan, and Dr Najma Khan Majlis also presented papers on different issues relating to the environment, paintings, architecture, and antiquities of Dhaka City.

Courtesy of The Daily Star