Sewerage disposal into drains<\/em>
\nAction against offending house owners ordered<\/strong>
\nThe government on Wednesday asked the authorities concerned to take action against the house owners who dispose of their sewerage into the storm sewers, ultimately
\npolluting the rivers around the capital.
\nThe task force responsible for ensuring the navigability and natural flow of the Buriganga, the Sitalakhya, the Balu, the Turag and others rivers across the country
\ngave the directive at its 18th meeting the shipping minister, Shajahan Khan, presided over at the secretariat.
\n\u2018We have also directed the authorities concerned to free the Buckland Bund on the River Buriganga from Shyampur to Sadarghat of illegal structures in seven days,\u2019
\nShajahan told reporters after the meeting.
\nHe said that many had set up shops and other establishments encroaching on the river and its embankments. \u2018We want to keep the area free of all kinds of illegal
\nstructures so that people can move along the river bank.\u2019
\nThe task force asked the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority to identify house owners who had illegally connected their sewerage lines to the storm water
\ndrainage system, severely polluting to the river water.
\nThe meeting was told that WASA had made a disposal of untreated liquid wastes through at least 52 points as the state-run agency does not have adequate facilities to
\ntreat the contaminated water before its disposal into the rivers.
\nWASA provides sewerage facilities for about 25 area of the Dhaka city while most sewerage lines of houses and others buildings in the remaining areas are connected to
\nthe storm water drainage that directly falls in the rivers, officials said.
\nHe said that the authorities, including the district administration, had taken steps to protect the rivers \u2014 the Buriganga, the Sitalakhya, the Balu and the Turag \u2014
\nfrom being polluted and encroached on hindering their natural flow.
\nThe minister claimed that the water quality of the rivers had improved a little as the percentage of dissolved oxygen was recorded between 0.45mg and 1mg a litre which
\nwas 0mg a litre in 2010 against the standards of 5mg\/L for maintaining aquatic life in surface water in Bangladesh.
\nAt the previous task force meeting on May 8, the shipping minister blamed the \u2018weak waste management\u2019 of the city corporations for pollution of the rivers around the
\ncity.
\nHe said that the task force still could not stop the Dhaka city corporations from polluting the rivers.
\nDespite efforts, municipal as well as industrial wastes are dumped into the rivers, polluting water, the meeting discussed.
\nThe land minister, Rezaul Karim Hira, the water resources minister, Ramesh Chandra Sen, and the environment minister, Hasan Mahmud, among others, attended the meeting.
\nThe task force head said that they had taken measures to evict illegal occupants from the river banks and complete the ongoing demarcation of the four rivers around
\nthe capital to restore the original territory of the rivers.
\nThe task force, however, ordered the Jessore deputy commissioner to take steps to restore the river Hakar. \u2018We have asked the deputy commissioner to send a report on
\nthe river\u2019s present situation to us,\u2019 the shipping minister said.
\nAsked about fresh encroachment on the Balu and the Turag by influential quarters, Shajahan expressed their helplessness in protecting the rivers from illegal land
\ngrabbers.
\nHe said that the land ministry was ultimately responsible for reclamation of the river land from grabbers.
\nTonnes of wastes continue to be dumped into the Buriganga despite a High Court order to stop such waste disposal into the river or on its banks and to have the
\nriverbanks cleaned up by a special team.
\nThe High Court in June 2011 directed the erstwhile Dhaka City Corporation, which is now split into two entities, to take early steps in this regard.
\nA huge amount of waste is also dumped into the river every day along the riverbanks between Kamrangir Char Bridge and the Second Buriganga Bridge.
\nMunicipal wastes are dumped into Mina Bazar Canal near Bhanga Masjid, opposite Mitali Tannery at Hazaribagh, near Companyghat Canal at Dholaipar and at many other
\nplaces, from where the wastes are carried into the river through the canals or sewers.
\nWastes are also dumped into the river near the Nababganj sluice gate, Shaheed Nagar Balughat and the Alirghat Pirjihujur footbridge.
\nThe shipping minister said that city corporation officials had, however, been asked to take effective steps to stop such wast disposal into the rivers at any cost and
\nhelp to keep the rivers pollution-free.<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/span> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sewerage disposal into drains Action against offending house owners ordered The government on Wednesday asked the authorities concerned to take action against the house owners who dispose of their sewerage into the storm sewers, ultimately polluting the rivers around the capital. The task force responsible for ensuring the navigability and natural flow of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1008,1278],"yoast_head":"\n