Environmental Articles Archive: Sustainability/ Land use
Web version prepared by BCAS
June, 2008

Form Haor Development Corporation
Speakers urge govt at roundtable

Speakers at a roundtable yesterday urged the government to form an autonomous Haor Development Corporation for the overall development of haors and the people living in adjoining areas.

They said a huge amount of cultivable land in haors remains unused every year due to lack of government's sustainable development policy. If this land could be utilised properly, the country would not have to face food scarcity, they added. 

The roundtable was organised jointly by Nagorik Sanghati and Weekly Britter Baire at the National Press Club in the capital.

The speakers said there are haors in 48 upazilas of seven districts and one-fifth of the total production of Aman and one-third of Boro come from these areas.

But the farmers in these areas cannot harvest the fruit of their labour due to draught, flood and waterlogging, they said, adding even the seeds and fertilisers are not always available due to bad communications. 

The speakers stressed the need for coordinated efforts for the development of haor areas by declaring it as 'special zone' and allocating adequate budget for disaster management.

Former minister Dr M Osman Farooq said short and long-term actions should be taken to develop the haor areas.

He said agricultural assistance should be provided to yield maximum quantity from the existing varieties of crops.

Besides, modern technologies should be used for preservation and marketing of fishes, while solar power and windmill could be established in those areas for power generation, he added.

Dr Farooq also suggested formation of an autonomous Haor Development Corporation as the present Haor Development Board is not working at all.

“Most of our plans lie unimplemented due to lack of coordination, said economist Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, suggesting a coordinated haor development policy alongside the national development planning on priority basis.

The speakers also placed specific recommendations for the development of infrastructure, agriculture, livestock, biodiversity, land and water management, education, health and sanitation of the people living in haor areas.

M Taher Uddin read out the keynote paper at the roundtable.Nagorik Sanghati President Prof ASM Atikur Rahman of Dhaka University, former secretary Syed Abdul Muktadir, Weekly Britter Baire Editor Abu Rayhan and Awami League leader Nurul Islam Nahid also spoke on the occasion. 

Source: The Daily Star, June 01, 2008 

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WATER LOGGING IN DHAKA
Poor drainage, canal filling blamed 

Poor drainage, sewer line blockage and encroachment of canals and water bodies are the main reasons for water logging in the capital, WASA officials said.

Although more than 1,000 unauthorised structures were demolished since the beginning of the canal reclamation drive in 2005, the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority has no capacity to drain out water of several hours of rainfall at a stretch, they said.The Dhaka WASA has the capacity to drain out only 10 millimetres of water per hour, but it takes several hours if it rains 100mm at a stretch, causing water logging, a Dhaka WASA official said referring to Monday’s rainfall that clogged many areas in the capital.

Stressing awareness programmes for the city dwellers, the official said adding that most of the city people have a tendency to dump waste into drainage lines.

Filling up of low-lying land, canals and ponds and other water bodies are also contributing to water-logging even after a brief rainfall, he added.

At present, the Dhaka WASA has 65 kilometres stretch of canals under its jurisdiction and its drainage system covers about 140 square kilometres inside the Dhaka Flood Protection Embankment.

Apart from the canals, WASA has 255 kilometres of pipe drains and 8.5km box culvert to drain out rainwater, said Waliullah Shikdar, superintendent engineer, drainage division of the Dhaka WASA. The Dhaka City Corporation has also 2460km surface drain, corporation sources said.

There were a total of 43 canals in the Dhaka city and 25 of them have been filled up with dirt or occupied by influential quarters hindering the flow of the canals while the rest either have been made into box culverts or have lean flows.

WASA officials said out of the 43 canals, 25 cannot be recognised while the remaining 18 have lean flow despite encroachment.

The canal reclamation drive in the city began in 2005 following the directive of an inter-ministerial meeting to pull down illegal structures along the canals, widely blamed for water logging in the city.

The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority dismantled over 1,000 unauthorised structures from different canals since the beginning of the drive in 2006, Dhaka WASA sources said.

The Dhaka City Corporation and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha also pulled down a good number of structures during this period, but the reclaimed canals and land were again occupied in the absence of post-drive monitoring.

Some officials said the entire drainage system in Dhaka need to be rearranged to free the capital from water logging.

The Dhaka WASA, which spends between Tk 20 and Tk 30 crore every year to clean canals and box culverts, re-excavate canals and demolish unauthorised structures to evict encroachers, is taking a number of steps to check water logging, they said.

The steps include setting up of 50 pumps, each with the capacity to pump out 5 cusec water per second, on the Dhaka Flood Protection Embankment stretching between Mirpur Golartek to Ganderia, adjacent to Rampura Bridge and downstream of Segunbagicha canal at Kamalapur, a WASA engineer said.

Kabir Ahmed Khan, superintendent engineer, operations and maintenance of Dhaka WASA, said, ‘We will set up those pumps on temporary basis — when the water level of the rivers around the capital will be high.

The WASA at present has three pump stations at Kalyanpur, Goran of Khilgaon and at Dholaikhal, which work round the clock, if necessary, during heavy rains.

Meanwhile, the World Bank is funding about Tk 200 crore for the development of the city’s canals and overall drainage management.

The process to get the WB fund is going on and the project is likely to be started by the year end, WASA officials said.

The fund will primarily help in developing seven to eight canals. The works will include permanent demarcation of the canals, their re-excavation, and construction of footpaths and tree plantation along the roads on both sides of the canals. The project also includes rehabilitation of the poor residing along the canals, officials said.

Source: New Age, June 05, 2008

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50,000 people vulnerable to landslide in Khagrachhari
No step yet to re-settle them 

At least 50 thousand people of about 15 thousand families in eight upazilas in Khagrachhari hill district are vulnerable to hill slides as they built their houses, business centres and other structures cutting the natural hills and without any environment-friendly plan.

Neither the district administration nor Khagrachhari Hill District Council has taken any initiative to re-settle the families that are identified as vulnerable to landslides.

With the onset of rains, many people in the district are passing sleepless nights fearing hill slides as last year's damage to life and properties due to the same cause is still fresh in their memory.

Despite a government ban, illegal hill cutting continues unabated in different parts of Khagrachhari district posing serious threat to lives, natural environment and biodiversity, district Agriculture Extension Department (DAE) and Divisional Forest Office (DFO) sources said. 

Influential people including some businessmen allegedly in connivance with a section of government officials are involved in illegal hill cutting while several government establishments are now dangerously exposed to collapse during the rainy season, sources said. 

Local environmental activists and journalists filed several general diaries with police stations in Khagrachhari regarding hill cutting but the administration is yet to take any effective steps to protect the hills. 

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) in 2006 issued legal notice to secretaries of environment and forest, land, and public works ministries for taking immediate actions against the plunderers of hills, sources said. 

Bela also issued notice to divisional commissioner of Chittagong, deputy commissioner of Khagrachhari, environment departments in Dhaka and Chittagong, SP of Khagrachhari and UNO of Dighinala upazila in this regard.

Abu Daud Muhammad, member secretary of local NGO Paribesh Surakkha Andolon, said members of a syndicate employ day labourers for hill cutting for Tk 100 to 120 each daily. Hill cutting causes filling up of rivers and canals and create flash flood and has bad impact on the environment in general as unscrupulous traders supply hilly soil to fill up canals and low lands for constructing houses and markets in the district, he said. 

Landslides in rainy season causes harm to life and property in hill district, said Additional District Magistrate Monindra Kishore Majumder. 

Besides, crop production decreases as soil fertility is affected and sources of fishery become smaller as water bodies and rivers are filled up, he said.

An integrated approach is necessary for saving life and environment in the hilly areas, Divisional Forest Officer Ali Kabir said. 

Khagrachhari Hill District Council Chairman Monindra Lal Tripura said they have surveyed the families living in Sadar upazila and decided to settle the ones living exposed to danger. But it does not seem easy due to monetary crisis, he said. 

Source: The Daily Star, June 10, 2008

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