In a major boost to conservation of natural waterways, the government has formed a five-member commission to save the country’s rivers as well as to ensure smooth navigation. The formation of the National River Protection Commission (NRPC) came seven months after Parliament passed an Act to this effect on July 14, 2013. Shipping minister Shajahan Khan told The Independent yesterday that the Prime Minister has approved the five names selected for the commission. The members are Dr Mihir Kanti Majumder, former secretary of Rural Development and Cooperative, Dr Mominul Haque Sarker, a river expert, Professor ASM Maksud Kamal, chairman, department of disaster science and management of Dhaka University, Dr Faustina Pereira of BRAC University, and Fouzia Nahar, joint secretary of the shipping ministry.
“We have proposed Dr Majumder’s name as chairman of the NRPC, Dr Mominul as full time member and appointed Fouzia Nahar as member secretary of the commission. The ministry of public administration will issue a circular in this regard soon,” Md Alauddin, joint secretary of the shipping ministry, said. The members were selected on the basis of their expertise on public administration, law, human rights, river management and engineering, river survey and environment, he added.
As per the NRPC Act, the commission would function as a statutory body under the shipping ministry. It will comprise a chairman and four other members, including a mandatory woman panellist. Among the five, one would be appointed on a full time basis and the rest would serve as honorary members.
According to the shipping ministry, the commission will give recommendations to
the government on eight specific areas – protection of rivers from encroachment, water contamination, monitor illegal constructions on river banks and embankments, recovering navigability of rivers and maintain and ensure their multiple uses. The commission’s suggestions will help the government recover the river from illegal encroachment and save water from contamination. For a long time, experts and conservationist have been demanding a monitoring body to save rivers. The High Court had also instructed the government to form a commission to protect the country’s rivers from encroachers.
The Bangladesh Water Development Board and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) have estimated that once about 310 small and large rivers crisscrossed the country, but many of them have died due to unplanned construction of embankments, culverts, encroachments, absence of dredging, lack of flow of water, urbanisation, siltation, earthquake, climate changes and construction of barrages and dams upstream across the border by India.
A river expert from the BIWTA said at least 117 Bangladeshi rivers have disappeared due to disruptions in water flow in the upstream and unplanned constructions of culverts, embankments in the country. According to a survey by the Netherlands Engineering Consultants (NEDECO) of the Netherlands carried out between 1965 and 1967, about 310 large and small rivers were flowing across the country.
Most parts of major rivers, like the Padma, Teesta, Brahmaputra, Jamuna, Dhaleswari, Sandhya and the Bangalee, have dried up due to people’s ignorance and the government’s apathy, the expert alleged.
Courtesy of The Independent
