River(in)side housing projects

Govt no less guilty than private companies in gobbling rivers

Pinaki Roy

A land developer sets up a signboard on an arable piece of land on the Balu at Moynartek advertising its housing project. The paddy field and the spot for the ad belong to the river. Photo: Anisur Rahman

Few riverside housing projects, be they government or private, can resist the temptation to encroach on river.

During recent visits to four major rivers in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Munshiganj, The Daily Star found that at least one government housing scheme and several unapproved private projects have filled up portions of the rivers.

Many developers have even put up signboards on the foreshores of the Buriganga, Turag and Balu rivers to lure people into buying plots there.

In Ashulia, two housing schemes undertaken for the officials of Akij Group and another land-filling project, locally known as "SP Sahib's project", have sprawled way onto the Turag.

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), the authorities mandated to plan and oversee the capital's development, itself has filled up over 30 metres of the Shitalakhya to the east of Kanchan Bridge in Rupganj to develop its Purbachal New Town Project, ignoring objections from the Water Development Board.

Of the private housing companies, Bashundhara Group has filled up parts of the Buriganga in Keraniganj for its River View project. For extension of its Baridhara-Bashundhara project, it appears to be in competition with Pink City, another housing company, for grabbing the Balu land.

Not only rivers, but also canals and low-lying areas categorised as flood flow zones in Rajuk's Detailed Area Plan are under assault from the grabbers.

Ibrahim, who plies boat on Narayanganj-Sadarghat route, said, "The Aidyar canal of Keraniganj, Kadamtali and Shyampur once used to connect the Dhaleshwari river to the Buriganga. But now it ends somewhere in the Bashundhara River View project area."

Alongside the crooked developers, some influential locals are grabbing river land and selling plots.

Mizan Rahman, a local from Sinnirtek, has grabbed over 150 decimals on the Turag near the BIWTA landing station in Mirpur.

During the four-party alliance rule, former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Pintu and his associates filled up a part of the Buriganga's first channel in Kamrangirchar.

“While filling up the river, they said they would build a hospital for the people there. But they split the land into plots and sold it," said a resident of Nababerchar, requesting anonymity.

The district administration in Dhaka, Gazipur, Munshiganj and Narayanganj has made a list of over 10,000 big and small grabbers of these four major rivers.

In June, the High Court declared 77 private housing projects illegal as per a Rajuk list and directed Rajuk to take action against unauthorised housing projects in and around the capital, remove their signboards and stop filling up of rivers and the sale of plots.

Apart from the 77, many unapproved housing schemes are into grabbing river land. On big hoardings, they advertise plots on the foreshores of the Balu, Turag and Buriganga. They include Global City and Indite Housing at Tin Machh point by the Balu in Kaliganj of Gazipur; Baridhara River City and Bharda Green City by the Balu in Rupganj of Narayanganj; Al Tasauf Green View, Janani Housing Project, Nasim City and Biswas Lake City by the Turag in Ashulia; and Shams Model Town Abason at Salmachhi and Buriganga Housing in Keraniganj along the Buriganga.

However, a mobile court of Rajuk has lately removed some of those signboards.

Environmentalists fear if the authorities do not take immediate measures, housing sprawls will soon choke the rivers to the point beyond recovery.

"Ruining river is our common tendency. The city dwellers have long started feeling the impact of grabbing and pollution of the rivers,"
said urban specialist Prof Nazrul Islam, now working with the Centre for the Urban Studies.

Rajuk appears seriously inadequate when it comes to implementing the High Court's directives to stop illegal housing projects.

"It's not that the government is not sincere about protecting the environment. What it lacks is the capacity to enforce the existing laws," observed Prof Nazrul.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and district administration are responsible for protecting the river foreshores.

Asked why they could not do much to deter the grabbers, BIWTA engineer Rakibul Islam said, "Whenever we go to evict them, they somehow produce legal documents staking claim to the river land they have grabbed."

Queried how they are going to stop the grabbers, Gazipur's Deputy Commissioner Kamal Uddin Talukder said they will demarcate the riverbanks during the monsoon and erect pillars there.

"Once we do it, no-one will be able to grab the rivers whether it is some housing company or an individual," he added.