Dying Gulshan Lake

The lake which is supposed to add to the beauty of the prime residential areas in the city has virtually become a dumping ground for sewage and other wastes from surrounding areas. Its water has been so polluted that fish epidemic occurs from time to time. And there is no arrangement for preventing garbage from being carried into the lake by monsoon rain. It is an example of what can happen to a beautiful lake when it is left to be polluted freely.

Much has been said and written about the lake, and the environmental hazards associated with its poor maintenance have also been pointed out time and again -- but to no avail. Rather, the situation is going from bad to worse.

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Rajuk, we are told, is in charge of the matter. But it seems the Rajuk decision makers have never felt the need for checking the pollution that has already turned the lake into an environmental nightmare of great magnitude. The representatives of local people are reported to have brought the issue to the notice of Rajuk chairman. The local people are doing as much as they can, but things cannot improve unless Rajuk takes up a plan to save the lake with a view to averting an environmental disaster.

Most of the lakes and water-bodies in the city have either been occupied or filled up in some way or the other. And pollution is threatening the existence of those which are still there. The government should handle the matter on the basis of a well-thought plan, for the role of lakes and canals in environment protection is very significant.

The Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake has long been left uncared for, and the result has been disastrous. The issue has to be addressed on a priority basis to save one of the very few water-bodies in the city that is still alive.