Lack of law implementation impediment for saving rivers

The master plan to save our rivers has raised hope, but has warranted cautions too. Proper master plans are rare in the country while proper implementation is even rarer. Doubts increase further when the issue deals with freeing rivers and water bodies of encroachment. The little success the district administrations have shown in identifying illegal encroachers of 50 rivers has made no impact on their eviction.

The encroachers are locally influential and have direct or indirect liaison with the ruling party. It is clear that political directives are missing to effectively evict the river and water bodies from encroachers.

The ruling party must prioritise the drive to save the rivers. A central directive is required in this regard. The impact is two-fold. This will serve to discourage the encroachers who are involved with the party and the administration along with concerned officials at various departments will receive a clear message.

A 25-member committee was formed including inter-ministries and organisations. The local government minister was made the head of the committee which was assigned to implement and monitor the plan. The prime minister's step reflects a political directive. Setting up the river-protection commission and its active role under the present government is a bit relieving, but no culture to obey this commission as a strong and effective monitoring organisation has been established.

In this backdrop, questions remain as to how far he decisions to demarcate rivers in Dhaka and Chattogram by 2022 and shift waste emitting factories by 2026 can be implemented. There were delays in relocating the Hazarigbagh tanneries despite mass social movement, media role and court orders. Now the tanneries have been shifted, but the inefficiency, carelessness and irregularity of the authority is creating another Buriganga.

Constant failures of the executive in saving the rivers have led the High Court to issue several time bound orders in the recent years in public interest. Rivers were declared to be 'living beings' and 'legal persons' and the river encroachers were declared ineligible to participate in elections and for loans. Implementation of such orders would be difficult without political directives.

There are many good laws to recover the rivers, but there is a huge lack in implementation. Permanent demarcation of rivers and identifying the flood plains are most important. Both these tasks require identifying the encroachers and evicting them. The master plan includes completing the demarcation by next year, but the water development board, as per its 2013 act, has not yet started demarcating flood plains. Such a scenario must be solved.