To protect reclaimed canals from further encroachment, the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) has taken an initiative to build walkways around the canals, to demarcate them permanently. The ministry of finance has already allocated Tk. 8 crore for this purpose, DWASA managing director Taqsim A Khan told reporters, at a press briefing in the DWASA office, on Sunday. The MD also maintained that the reclaimed canals, would, earlier face re-encroachment due to poor monitoring. “Permanent walkways would keep the canals free from re-encroachment”, he said.
The briefing was attended by shipping minister and chairman of the national taskforce on canal and river protection, Shahjahan Khan, who, earlier in the day, visited the eviction drives around Ramchandrapur and Kalyanpur-Gha canals in the city.
In his briefing, the shipping minister said that, as per the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on freeing rivers and canals from encroachers, the taskforce has held several meetings and discussed the issue with Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), the ministry of industry, and the department of environment (DoE).
“During the tenure of the present government, the DWASA has taken the initiative to free 26 canals in the capital, from the hand of the encroachers”, he said.
About the progress made in the past two years, the shipping minister said that, by the end of 2010, the national taskforce on canal and river protection had demolished 80 illegal structures around Katashur, 20 around Kalyanpur-Gha, 20 around Kalyanpur-main Ga and freed a major part of Devdholai canal.
By September this year, 65 illegal structures around the Ramchandrapur canal, and 36 more, around Kalyanpur-Gha, have been knocked down, he added.
The minister said that to keep the city safe from water logging, eviction drives would be conducted at 10 more canals – Ramchandrapur main, Rupnagar main, Rupnagar-Ka, Kha, and Ga, Manda, Ulan, Devdholai main, Mohakhali and Segunbagicha canals, within the current fiscal year. He also said that under a World Bank-funded project, development works were on at the Abdullahpur canal, Khilgaon-Basabo Canal, Manda Canal, Shahjadpur Canal, Baunia Canal and Digun Canal.
-With The Independent input
