The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday stopped the unauthorised construction of a bridge on the Balu river at Mashkul in Khilkhet by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).
The DoE also fined the Rajuk-hired construction firm Tk 5.5 lakh for harming the river ecology and ordered to remove within a week 45,500 cubic feet of earth from both banks of the river.
Rajuk, the city planner, filled up the Balu narrowing it down to nearly half its width for building the bridge to connect the capital with its Purbachal housing project in Rupganj, said a report headlined "Balu filled up for a bridge" carried by The Daily Star on Thursday.
Following this, Mohammed Munir Chowhdury, director of monitoring and enforcement wing of DoE, conducted a drive and seized 85 big piling pipes from the construction site yesterday.
"They've filled up almost two-thirds of the Balu in a gross violation of the law," Munir said.
"We've measured the filled-up area and found it to be 4,550 square feet," he added.
The Rajuk action has choked the river to such an extent that two engine boats can hardly pass together through the point.
The Environment Protection Act (amendment) 2010 requires environment clearance certificate from the DoE for any government and non-government development project.
But Rajuk, the city authority, did not obtain the clearance nor undertook any environmental impact assessment before launching the project. It also did not take permission from Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), the government agency for protecting the city rivers.
The project was taken up in 2008 and was expected to be completed by November next year.
Summoned at the DoE, project director Anwar Hossain initially denied filling up of the river.
"He then tried to convince the environment department saying it [the bridge] was a government project and it was not a problem to fill up the river," an official said requesting anonymity.
When pressed further by the DoE officials, he admitted to violating the relevant laws.
During the drive, the law enforcers also apprehended two engineers of the Rajuk-hired construction firm, RP Udayan, from the site. The two -- Nasurullah and Arman Hossain -- were later released.
Earlier, the Rajuk also filled up the Dumni canal, a natural canal originating from the Balu, at Khilkhet. The canal runs through Dumni, Mashkul, Dhalna, Tolna, Khadaldia and Gajaria before rejoining the Balu.
In March this year, the Department of Environment ordered Rajuk to excavate the canal.
Meanwhile, a Rajuk statement in response to The Daily Star report yesterday said the construction of the bridge in no way harmed the environment and ecology of the river.
News Source: The Daily Star (May 6, 2011)
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