Editorial
Grabbing lakes with impunity
Those responsible must be held to account
UNSCRUPULOUS individuals have been grabbing major portions of Gulshan-Banani and Gulshan-Baridhara lakes over the last six months with increasing impunity. Despite there being clear court orders freezing all such activity and indeed ordering Rajuk to go for a demarcation of the lakes, the grabbers have demonstrated not the slightest of fear or compunction in carrying on with their activities. As many as twenty influential individuals, we have been informed, have been filling up large areas of Gulshan-Baridhara lake. Then comes the matter of how and whether dishonest elements in Rajuk have colluded with these grabbers in gobbling up public property.
The situation, as one can easily understand, is grave and will certainly get worse unless drastic action is taken immediately to bring these illegal grabbers to heel under the law. And speaking of the law, there are quite a few legal moves relating to the lakes that draw public attention. In the words of the convener of the Lake and Environment subcommittee of Gulshan Society, a court order was issued in 1998, which was followed by a High Court directive to Rajuk in February 2000. Apart from the society's statement, there are other legal factors that have come in as well. In 2003, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ordered Rajuk to carry out a demarcation of Gulshan-Baridhara lake and acquire lands along its fringes as part of a conservation plan for the lake. Three years later, in 2006, the High Court issued an order prohibiting any earth filling in the lake. Besides, the lake is also protected by a rule nisi issued by the High Court this year. That said, in 2001, Gulshan lake was declared an ecologically critical area (ECA). Moreover, the lake is considered a crucial flood control reservoir in the nation's capital.
What is truly mind-boggling is that despite all these court orders and other moves, a group of individuals have not flinched from showing their audacity in swallowing up increasingly bigger portions of the lake. Their dismissive attitude to the law has been so blatant as to encourage some of them to put up signboards right in the middle of the lake as a way of claiming those particular portions of the lake. The question now is: where is Rajuk here and what does it plan to do about it? The chairman of Rajuk should have come forth on his own to explain the position. As it is, he could not be located on Saturday. On the other hand, the minister in charge of public works seems to be at a loss to understand how his instructions to Rajuk to put a stop to such illegal activities have been ignored.
It is now clear that decisive action must come from the highest levels of political and legislative authorities to protect the lakes. There are two critical factors that must be acted upon. The first is freeing the lakes from the clutches of the grabbers; and the second is to ensure that the wetland conservation act is observed in its totality. Finally, let the judiciary come in once again, this time to ensure an enforcement of all its earlier directives where protecting and conserving the lakes is concerned.
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