According to an investigation report, much of the land comprising the banks and foreshores of the river and, in many cases, the actual river channel itself were "deacquisitioned" by officials in the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner's office and sold or granted to individuals.

The episode brings into sharp focus the predicament the government faces with private individuals laying claim to public land. In many instances, the problem is compounded by the fact that current claimants or owners may have made their purchases far-removed from the original miscreants who unlawfully placed the land in the marketplace in the first place.

The genesis of the problem quite clearly is the official corruption that results in public land being disbursed in this manner in a nexus with professional land-grabbers. In this instance, the fault clearly lay with the officials at the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner's office who originally "deacquisitioned" the land. The government must immediately investigate the matter and take steps to curb illegality on the part of those who are supposed to protect public land. This kind of private enrichment at the expense of the public is the very definition of abuse of power, and those responsible for the systematic subversion of public property must be brought to justice.

However, this should also serve as an object lesson for those who purchased the land. It is unreasonable to believe that one can purchase the rights to a river channel or even its banks and foreshores, and current owners should have known better than to purchase property which so clearly lay within the public domain, regardless of whatever 'paperwork' those who sold to them produced.

The government must continue with its dredging plans which will be of enormous benefit to the public and cannot be dissuaded by the claims of those who occupied property that was not legitimately for sale.