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Bangladesh lost 16,400 kilometres of waterways in the last 60-odd years, state minister for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury informed the parliament yesterday.

The state minister said there was 24,000 kilometres of waterways in 1960, but now it stands at 7,600 kilometres, while replying to a query from lawmaker Abdul Latif.

Concerned authorities’ negligence, absence of proper planning and supervision as well as natural changes were some reasons for shrinking of riverways in the country, Khalid Mahmud said.

He said the government has recovered 1,600 kilometres of riverways by dredging river and waterbodies. “We have plans to increase another 10,000 kilometres of waterways by dredging 178 rivers,” he said.

Authorities have knocked down 15,175 illegal structures and recovered 566 acres of land along Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakkhya rivers, the state minister added in reply to a query by Awami League MP Ishrafil Alam.

Khalid Mahmud said construction of walkways, benches, eco-park and tree plantation on the riverbanks are going on after recovery from encroachment, to make sure these banks do not get occupied again.

BANGKOK, July 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A ruling by Bangladesh’s top court granting rivers the same legal rights as people could hurt the poor fishing and farming communities that depend on them, human rights activists said.

The Supreme Court declared this week that all Bangladesh’s rivers had the legal status of living entities, a move aimed at protecting them from growing pollution, encroachments and illegal dredging.

“Water is likely to be the most pressing environmental concern of the next century,” the court said in its order, calling for rivers to be protected “at all costs”.

The ruling followed a 2016 petition and came after similar moves from countries including New Zealand, India and Colombia, and the U.S. state of Ohio to give legal rights to rivers and lakes.

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the advocacy group South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, said such rulings may make riverside communities more vulnerable to eviction.

“Countries are jumping onto the bandwagon without setting up proper frameworks to check pollution and improve conservation,” he said on Thursday.

“The New Zealand ruling recognised communities as stakeholders, and that is key. Otherwise, fishermen and farmers who have traditionally lived by rivers, but do not have legal rights to do so, may be more vulnerable to eviction.”

Three Himalayan rivers converge in Bangladesh to form the world’s largest delta and nearly 80% of the densely populated country of 165 million people is floodplain.

Millions live on or alongside rivers, relying on them for fishing and farming.

Authorities have already started evicting informal settlements along river banks in the capital Dhaka, human rights groups said.

The government estimates more than 2.2 million people live in slums and informal settlements, although land rights groups say the number is far higher.

“The government must take stock of poor communities who need resettlement, or protection from industries and real estate developers,” said Mohammad Abdul Matin, general secretary of human rights group Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan.

“If enacted well, the verdict will be helpful in returning the rivers to the people who have historically depended on them.”

The court appointed Bangladesh’s National River Conservation Commission (NRCC), a government agency, as the legal guardian of rivers.

Chairman Muzibur Rahman Howlader said the NRCC was framing policies that would take local communities into account.

“Protecting the rivers also means protecting the entire eco-system, which includes fishermen and farmers who live on the banks. Their rights will also be protected,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

A channel of River Turag reclaimed from a realtor who occupied it for years near Basila in Dhaka was launched after necessary dredging on Thursday.
State minister for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury launched the 2,800 feet by 250 feet channel in presence of officials of the ministry and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, environmentalists and residents of the area.
Greens and locals appreciated the move for navigation of water transports and reviving the channel.
A BIWTA eviction team reclaimed the channel in March from grabber Amin and Momin Development Limited for its housing project, the agency chairman commodore M Mahbub-ul Islam told New Age.
‘The realtor sold plots on 28 bigha land by grabbing the river,’ he said.
He said that BIWTA had initiated excavating and dredging with 11 excavators and two dredgers to restore the channel with 27-foot depth.
‘It was a challenging task as we had to dredge the river with limited fund,’ he said.
Khalid said all the rivers in the country would be protected from pollution and grabbing.
A High Court Division bench in January accorded ‘living entity’ status to Turag and asked the concerned authorities to remove all the structures from its banks in next thirty days.
The bench also directed the Election Commission not to allow any person accused of grabbing river land to contest any election. It also directed the Bangladesh Bank to take steps so that river grabbers cannot borrow money from banks.