Editorial
Good News for the Buriganga at Last
The High Court's directive to the government and its relevant agencies to submit a time-bound action plan for evicting encroachers from the Buriganga comes as another forward-looking act of judicial intervention. For a newspaper which is in the thick of a relentless campaign to 'Save the Buriganga' from an ensnaring encroachment and the appalling degradation of the environment it has brought about, nothing could be more elating than the HC's emphatic ruling on the writ in this behalf.
The media coverage on the subject in general has had an effect in raising the level of civic consciousness about the dangers severely spelt by the dual problem of illegal occupation of public property like a river and the attendant environmental pollution. As a manifestation of this we saw the writ petition made by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (BELA) seeking a judicial remedy from the high seat of the country's judiciary which they seem set to get now. We have had the knowledge of some people living beside the Buriganga who successfully resisted the illegal extension of a salt factory into the river by attempting to wall up the jutted part. We would like to see the multiplication of not merely such public reactions within the limits of law but also a spate in the environmental and legal activist groups' initiatives to assist the ordinary citizens to seek appropriate judicial and administrative remedies from relevant quarters.
In some neighbouring countries, especially India, we have seen how court injunctions were sought and obtained to pre-empt construction of a certain ecologically hazardous dam which presaged deforestation and alteration of a river's course, etc. In the case of Taj Mahal a clearly existent problem of an environmental staining of the architectural marvel was addressed by the court by ordering the factories nearby to close down.
This is the sophisticated level of environmental concern that we shall hopefully reflect one day, given the trend of protestations and resistance by the citizens' groups against tree-felling in Osmany Uddyan - since discontinued - followed by the latest HC ruling on the subject of Buriganga.
These are big gains for the public, the media, environmental groups and, to be farsighted, the people who are in charge of ensuring the rule of law to stem the tide of expropriation of state or private property.
The High Court order for action relates to the encroachers identified in a report submitted by the DC Dhaka on February 5, 1998 following a Prime Ministerial directive. The DC reportedly mentioned 260 cases of encroachment, which we believe was an under-estimation of the actual extent of illegal occupation taking place well into the river, let alone nearly two years' time that has elapsed since the preparation of that report.
But yes, if the recorded number of encroachers are evicted it would pave the way for others of their ilk to make the exit as well. In any case, let's not see the foot-dragging on the corrective work any more than we have seen about the slum-dwellers.
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