Kailash Sarkar
Apart from the preservation of four rivers surrounding Dhaka, works for the construction of 52 kilometres of walkways on the river banks and beautification of the river bansk are going on in full swing. These programmes have have been taken under multiple projects through different agencies of the government. Under the projects on the banks of Burigunga, Turag, Shitalakhya and Balu rivers also include creation of three tourists-friendly ecoparks, tree plantation for forestry, construction of 409 benches for sitting, 40 kilometres of key-walls, six pontuns and 19 Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) jetties. The BIWTA also decided to set up 10,820 boundery pillers fixing the river areas so that none could grab the river land further.
Officials of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) said, the projects were taken in hands in the last January. At a cost of Tk Tk 844.55 crore, the project is scheduled to be completed by June, 2022. As part of the tasks, construction of walkways and key-walls are going on at Kholamora in Kamrangirchar of the capital. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal inaugurated the work formally on July 24. State Minister for Shipping, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, among others, was also present there. A taskforce is also working for making the water of the rivers free from pollution.
Officials concerned to the projects said, after the completion of the task, city dwellers will get new spots for their pleasure and entertainments on the river banks. People will be able spet good time there for their refreshments. Commodor M Mahmub-ul-Islam, BIWTA Chairman said, with the view to save all the four rivers, illgal structures have been demolished and grabbed lands of rivers have been freed from the illgal occupiers.
He said, BIWTA conducted continuous eviction drives in faces from January to June this year. During the drives, a total of 5, 239 illegal structures were evicted and more than 145 acres of lands were recovered. The BIWTA Chairman said the tasks have been divided into several parts and different plans have been projected for each of them.
