Editorial
SoS for Gulshan Lake
Encroachers must face the full force of law
GRABBERS are implementing their sinister design of turning the Gulshan Lake into commercial plots and making money on the sly. This has been going on despite the High Court directive prohibiting filling of the lake on any ground whatsoever. There appears to be nobody to effectively challenge the misdeeds with court orders or any administrative directive.
The influential grabbers are thriving on impunity. Obviously, gobbling lake land would not have been possible without the Rajuk officials abetting it. Many people do think some form of collusive arrangement must have preceded the grabbing move. When the custodians of the lake look away it is the proverbial gate-keeper turning a poacher.
The grabbing of lakes and water bodies is becoming an environmental concern of great magnitude. The Gulshan Lake serves as a flood retention reservoir, besides having a cooling effect on the entire locality. Environmentalists are pretty much convinced that we are inviting a disaster by filling up the lakes and water bodies. However, their concern has failed to sensitize the myopic and unscrupulous elements ready to do any damage to the environment while attaining their goals.
The attempt by the government to earmark the lake as an ecologically critical area back in 2001 has clearly failed to make any impact. It is now quite evident that expression of concern and mere articulation of what has to be done to save the lakes and water bodies are not enough as the encroachers have made inroads deep into the heart of the administration and are capable of influencing the decision making and law enforcement processes.
The Gulshan residents have been trying to stop the menace but they have failed to achieve anything tangible so far. Similarly, the seminars and meetings arranged to highlight the moribund state of the lake have not had the desired effect on the recalcitrant elements.
So, the only option left to the government is to make sure that its own functionaries do not twist or violate the law and that encroachment on the lake comes to a speedy end. The commitment to saving the lakes and water bodies has to be translated into a firm, sustained and decisive action against the encroachers and grabbers, regardless of whatever influence, clout and guile they might still try to pull.
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