Savar in grave peril

Untreated waste from DEPZ pollutes waters, farmlands since 1983; no CETP installed yet; around 2 lakh people exposed to serious health risk
Untreated liquid wastes from Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) have been polluting the Bangshi river and other water bodies around, putting around two lakh people of 12 villages in the area into tremendous health risk.
Only a couple of decades ago the villagers used water from the nearby water bodies like Dholai beel for drinking, bathing and irrigation. But now the water of Dholai beel and the Bangshi river looks pitch black and it stinks as wastes from the DEPZ, where many of the world famous brand items are produced, continue to pollute the water.
Inhabitants of the villages around Dholai beel in Savar, where the DEPZ discharges its untreated effluent, said the wastes have severely contaminated the land there and they cannot cultivate paddy now. The pollution has thus threatened the existence of some traditional livelihoods while villagers often suffer from water-borne diseases.
Polluting more than 1,000 acres of land in Dholai beel, the filthy water pours into the Bangshi in Savar. The pollution spreads over the villages during floods.
In the 143.84 hectares area of DEPZ there are over 300 industrial units, including chemical, leather, textile, agro-based industries, garment and garment accessories, woven and knitted fabrics, medical and biological, pharmaceutical industries and backward and forward linkage industries. A few of these industries discharge harmful effluent.
Under an open-door policy the government established the DEPZ in 1983 to attract foreign investors but it is yet to set up a central effluent treatment plant (CETP) for the industries in the DEPZ.
The authorities concerned, however, said setting up of such a plant is underway and it may take seven to nine months to be completed.
“We have 24 industries that discharge liquid waste and 23 of them have individual ETP and setting up of another’s is under process,” said Brigadier General Jamil Ahmed Khan, chairman of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza).
Admitting discharge of liquid waste, he said sometimes however these industries produce wastes more than the capacity of their individual ETPs. “When the central ETP will be completed, all industries will be under its cover,” he said.
He said they have a strict system to monitor if these industries are operating their ETPs and that they fine industrial units for not running the plants.
According to the Bangladesh Environmental Act 1997, discharging untreated waste is prohibited and a punishable offence. Under the law, setting up of ETP and its operation is a must for certain categories of industries.
During a recent visit many villagers said they once used to get 70 maunds (37 kilogram) of paddy from one acre of land, which was very fertile then. But later they had to stop cultivation because of the polluted water.
“In the initial few years, there was no problem to cultivate paddy here. But now we are going through a bad time,” said Abdul Mannan of Chhoner Tek village who has four acres of land under the pitch-black water of Dholai beel.
The entire Dholai beel is submerged under black polluted water with poly bags and other wastes floating in it.
Villagers of Madhupur, Santaki, Kanda, Kaika Bari, Basak Bari, Dagortali, Sukandi, Bashbari, Majibari, Namopara, Nayapara and Nalam are facing the same situation.
Not just cultivation, a few other traditional means of living like fishing and cattle farming have stopped in these villages because of the pollution.
Talking to The Daily Star, a local said many people used to earn their living by fishing in the beel and the Bangshi river. “But now there is no fish in the beel and the Bangshi,” he said.
Many farmers now build extra houses on their homestead and rent them out to DEPZ workers.
“We used to cultivate paddy in Dholai beel in winter and we would get paddy for the whole year, sometimes even more. But now we mainly live on the income from my rented houses,” said Md Moksed of Madhupur.
The villagers said they often suffer from a number of water-borne diseases, including typhoid, diarrhoea and hepatitis. Mosquito menace has also increased a lot in these villages since the DEPZ was established.

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