Buriganga: The
endangered lifeline
Jesmul Hasan
During the tenure of the last Caretaker Government, an eviction drive against
illegal encroachment along the river Buriganga was initiated with great fervor.
Within a couple of days, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA)
demolished a good number of unauthorized structures erected along the river. The
initiative was hailed by city dwellers. After the formation of newly elected
government, it was announced that the demolition drive would continue.
If the aged Dhakaites can remember an afternoon beside the river Buriganaga
fifty years ago, they will be looking back at a mighty river on which sailed
festooned Bajras. There was a long stretch between Sowarighat and Buckland Bundh
which is now haunted by memories of a refreshing breeze that would relieve the
tired city-dwellers as they rested on the banks.
All pleas having fallen on deaf ears, there was no recourse but to urgently seek
an order from the High Court to stop illegal construction along the river. One
fears that too might have little effect! The river is now dying a slow death.
Despite a government vow to stop encroachments, Buriganga, which was once the
main artery of communication and is an old tributary of the Ganges has virtually
been reduced to a narrow canal of polluted slime. Dumping of city and industrial
wastes round the clock have not only changed the physical aspect of the river
but much of its fish and other aquatic animals have disappeared. A local
boatman, Farid (40) says, " The river has lost its youth; in winter, it
does not even look like a river."
The river has become a dumping ground for Dhaka's garbage and industrial
pollutants. The question of Buriganga's treated water being potable does not
even arise. In 1992, the Department of Environment (DoE) ruled out the use of
Buriganga water for both household and drinking purposes. The DoE found the
level of oxygen to be below 2 micrograms per litre. The standard minimum is 5
micrograms per litre. The level of chromium in the waters of the Buriganga was 6
ppm, an amount 60 times higher than the tolerable limit prescribed for the human
body. " We cannot use the water of the river, nor can we take a dip,"
adds Farid the boatman.
The 25 mile long river originates from the Dhaleshwari River to the south of
Savar and reunites with its source to the south of Fatullah. Dhaka is situated
on its northern bank. The existence of Buriganga is threatened from many
directions. Flourishing trade in sand and stone at Fatullah near Narayanganj is
not only troubling the environment but also gives rise to heavy traffic jams.
There are several ship building and heavy engineering industries near Fatullah
Launch Terminal. Over a dozen ships are concurrently being repaired in these
docks and in the process, these are cleaned, oiled and greased. The leftover
grease and spoils are conveniently thrown into the river. Brick fields, huts for
workers in the brick fields and latrines overhanging the river cause serious
environmental concern. Workers of the brick fields use the water of the river
for cooking, bathing without being aware of the poison contained in it. Much of
the thousands of tons of solid and liquid waste generated by around 100 million
people of the city are dumped into the river. According to Dhaka WASA experts,
60 per cent of the city's sewage is dumped into the Buriganga.
The water of the river has turned septic under the burden of effluents generated
mostly from the sewerage system and chromium-rich leftovers from the city
tanneries. According to DoE, each day, 15,000 to 21,000 cubic liters of waste
from 500 tanneries, 3,500 cubic liters of waste from 330 industrial units and
2,700 cubic liters of waste from other sources is expelled into the Buriganga.
Every day, 15,000 cubic liters of liquid waste, 19 tons of solid waste and 7.5
tons of organic waste go into Buriganga from the Hazaribagh leather processing
units. Unspecified volumes of toxic waste from industries in Tejgaon, Tongi and
Savar (the latter two are on the banks of the river Turag which flows into the
Buriganga) are also finding way into the river. These chemical wastes have
rendered the river water in the adjacent areas, black and stinking. The tannery
wastes include liquefied arsenic, solid salt sodium sulfide, lime, ammonium
sulfate, sulfuric and formic acid, basic chromium sulfate, preservatives, color,
pigments and finishing materials. After these chemicals are used to treat
leather, effluents are allowed to flow out and accumulate in low-lying areas
inside the Dhaka City protection embankment. These flow into the Buriganga
through a number of sluice gates in the surrounding embankment. According to the
residents of Hazaribagh, the tannery owners should be fined for causing grievous
harm to the public.
The DoE has identified as sources of incoming effluent, the waste pouring in
through the sluice gates at Rayer Bazar and Dholai Khal, the sewage treatment
plant at Pagla, drains of Dhaka city and numerous latrines overhanging the
Buriganga. Besides, hundreds of tons of wastes are thrown directly from numerous
houses, hotels, restaurants, kitchens and markets situated on the riverbank.
There are two open drains from the Mitford Hospital which pour a considerable
amount of hospital waste into the river.
A study done in 1997 showed that the cost of pollution from the tanneries
exceeded Tk. 29,551 million- a figure much higher than the relocation cost. The
cost has been calculated in terms of human health losses, loss of property value
and loss of real income due to pollution.
According to a DoE survey, few living organisms survive in the stretch from
Mirpur to Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge. Fish resource has decreased
drastically. The survey also states that the level of liquefied oxygen required
for survival of aquatic life is six milligram per liter. If this level drops to
four mg, it considered dangerous. In Buriganga the level is 4 mg at Hazaribagh,
1 to 0 mg at Kamrangir Char to Pagla point, 0 mg at Dholai Khal. During the dry
season, 80% of Buriganga is so polluted that it is literally impossible for any
aquatic life including fish to survive, says the DoE officials.
Not only is the river threatened by pollution, its very existence is made
questionable through the act of encroachment. All kinds of encroachers, often
backed by local influential people, are reportedly busy grabbing the riverbank
bit by bit. They also consolidate their gains through reclaiming land- the most
precious thing in and around the capital- by sticking bamboo poles into the
riverbed. A visit to the riverfront will show how structures built on stilts
have sprung up along the banks of the dying river. To consolidate their
holdings, they resort to large scale and indiscriminate dumping of garbage for
landfill. At some places like Kamrangirchar, Kamalbagh and Islampur, some local
people have even raised concrete pillars with boundary walls to make their
presence permanent. Some of these structures have been demolished in the recent
drive. Near the Sadarghat terminal, encroachment is mostly in terms of
commercial establishments. They have put up shops on both sides of the river.
Quite a large number of unauthorized dockyards and boat building industries have
been extended to mid-stream. Collecting soil from the riverbed and selling it
has become very good business and is done in broad daylight. Huge slums and
shanties have also sprung up on both banks of the river.
A survey conducted in 1998 by the DoE found that the river had been boxed in by
at least 244 establishments. These include 35 slums, 20 saw mills, 16 dock
yards, 11 fruit/vegetable godowns, seven mosques and madrashas, four
manufacturing industries and 20 textile mills. These include residential houses,
furniture shops and wholesale shops of bamboo and wood. Illegal occupants have
encroached upon approximately 50 acres of Buriganga land. Out of this, 38.7
acres are under Kotwali circle, 7.01 acres are under Tejgaon circle and 4.3
acres are under Keraniganj thana.
The Buriganga faces navigation problems as well. Shoals have emerged at the
confluence of the Dhaleshwari and the Buriganga, causing great difficulty in the
plying of river vehicles. This again leads to loss in terms of extra fuel and
time. Near Savar, the river has nearly dried up due to accumulated silt.
The DoE formed a committee in 1997 in order to implement the 'Save Buriganga'
program. A subsequent national committee headed by the Minister for Environment
and Forests is in charge of the overall action plan regarding the Buriganga.
According to informed sources, the Divisional Commissioner of Dhaka is
responsible for evicting the illegal encroachers while Rajdhani Unnayan
Kortripakkha (RAJUK), the main agency for developing Dhaka city, is responsible
for beautification of the river banks. Bangladesh Inland Water Transport
Authority (BIWTA) is entrusted with restoring normal flow of the river.
The BIWTA evicted an illegal installation of the Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS) on
the river Buriganga near Shyampur a few months back. Recently the BIWTA has
started removing the massive deposit of earth to free the river of one of the
largest encroachments. Its Dredgers are now removing some two million cubic feet
of earth from the river which was illegally dumped by the SKS over the last two
years to build facilities for berthing and storing goods. The task has proven to
be difficult for BIWTA because there are many large boulders and bricks that
have to be removed manually.
Following reports published in several newspapers, BIWTA launched a massive
eviction drive a few months ago to remove more than 200 illegal encroachments on
the Buriganga including the SKS installation. The SKS had encroached upon more
than 860 feet of the river channel, foreshore and shore. It had however
maintained that the 'land' belonged to it by 'right of purchase'. BIWTA is now
entrusted with the painstaking responsibility of removing at least four similar
encroachments in Shyampur area alone. In many cases, the encroachers procured
land fraudulently and produced ownership papers in connivance with a section of
unscrupulous officials at the Deputy Commissioner's office and violated the port
laws by grabbing land along the river.
The people of Shyampur feel that in the process of this long established fraud,
the river has been "sold and resold" at different places. In most
cases, the river grabbers acted under the banner of one or the other main
political party. Successive governments have vowed to save the river from
encroachment and pollution but have inevitably backed out when things have gone
against their vested interests.
The Chief Engineer of the Water Development Board informed that they were
completing a Taka 110 crore project to build flood walls, roads and walkways
along the river to demarcate it clearly. This would help stop encroachments on
the river. A UNIDO source said that a Taka 100 crore proposal for building a
common effluent treatment plant for tannery wastes is at the 'PCP stage'
awaiting approval of the authorities concerned. But a donor is yet to be found
for financing the project. A 7.5 acre site has also been earmarked for the
project but the proposal for land acquisition is yet to be sent. Dhaka WASA has
meanwhile requested RAJUK not to approve any building plans on the site which
has been earmarked for the treatment plant. Under the project, all tannery
workers would be required to bring in some changes in their internal
infrastructure and they would also be required to install in-house chromium
recovery plants because a large volume of chromium is lost with the tannery
waste. Sources in the Finished Leather Association of Bangladesh said they have
written to a Swiss Organization for financial help to install the recovery
plants but they are yet to hear from them. The tannery owners are earning crores
of taka in foreign currency at the expense of public health and ruination of the
lifeline of the city. In any civilized country, they would have to pay for the
treatment plant and also pay compensation to the victims.
References: Bangladesh: State of the Environment Report 2000, (2001), FEJB
Bangladesh Environment: Facing the 21st Century, (1998) SEHD The Daily Star
Source: The Holiday, 14 December, 2001