Step up supervision of river routes

The authorities are not adopting any of the measures required to keep river routes safe. As a result, accidents have become commonplace. These often pass unnoticed if the damages are restricted to bridges or vessels. It is only when there is a loss of human lives that the matter is given some attention.

On the evening of 4 April, a cargo vessel belonging to a member of parliament collided with a launch, Sabit Al Hasan, near the under-construction third bridge of the river Shitalakshya. The launch capsized and 34 persons, included 7 children, died in the mishap. This is a tragic incident. People have died in accidents in the same place in the past.

Prothom Alo’s investigations carried out after the 4 April incident reveal that 50 accidents have taken place in the third Shitalakshya bridge vicinity over the past one year. Several of these accidents involved vessels crashing into pillars being used in the construction of the bridge. If the steel pillars are damaged in the accidents, the owners of the vessels are fined, but the bridge contractors are never fined.

The main cause of these accidents is that the river has drastically narrowed down. Then there is the reckless speed of the vessels, the pillars of the under-construction bridge and the other equipment placed there.

According to the Bangladesh River Commission, there are 2000 encroachers along the river Shitalakshya alone. At the same time, increased commercial activities have also increased the number of vessels on this route. A large number of bulkheads carry sand from Munshiganj and other sand depots to Purbachal and adjacent construction sites. According to BIWTA, in 1960 Shitalakshya was 780 metres wide at the estuary and this shrunk to 365 metres in 2020. Over the past 60 years, the river has narrowed by 106 metres at Demra, 153 metres at the Nabiganj ferry terminal, 137 metres at the Bandar ferry terminal and 415 metres at the Shah Cement point at the estuary. Encroachers have simply swallowed up the river.

Much has been said and written about the grabbing of Buriganga, Shitalakshya and other rivers around Dhaka, and there have been decisions and drives. Environmental organisations have also been continuing their movements to save the rivers. But nothing has been able to halt the steady decline of the situation. The future doesn’t look quite rosy either. The river is dying of pollution and encroachment.

If the river ceases to exist, how will the vessels ply? So first and foremost, the river must be freed of encroachment and pollution. The river must be expanded in width.

Secondly, the problems arising over the construction of the third Shitalakshya bridge would not have been hard to resolve if the concerned authorities had the sincere intentions to do so. The bridges division is in charge of the construction. BIWTA is in charge of monitoring the river. These two establishments do not have even the minimum coordination with each other. The navigation of the river vessels cannot be controlled with just a guard positioned by the contractors. BITWA must step up its round-the-clock surveillance there. And the bridges division can’t avoid its responsibility by just assigning the contractors to the job.

Whether it is on the roads or the rivers, the traffic must be supervised. This continuous parade of death and destruction on the rivers cannot continue. The concerned authorities must come forward, however late it may be, and resolve the situation.