The country’s culture of impunity encouraged developers to fill wetlands and flood flow zones in and around the capital for housing projects in gross violation of several laws.
The up shot is aggravation of recurrent water logging in the capital.
Emboldened by non enforcement wealthy developers and other influential groups continue to grab whatever wetlands and flood flow zones are left in and around the capital raising environmental concerns, said greens.
Everything happens within the knowledge of regulators, but they usually turn a blind eye as the wealthy developers can grease their palms.
Some of the capital’s remaining wetlands and flood flow zones are also under use by different powerful groups including the army, the police and bureaucrats for the construction of their private housing facilities.
The examples emboldened others also to grab wetlands and flood flow zones in and around the capital for construction of homes.
All the grabbers expect that they would get their illegal housing facilities legalized by mounting pressure, paying bribes and at the most fines.
The grabbers know how to bend the land and mollify the housing ministry, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkhya and the Department of Environment.
All the regulators look the other way when wealthy developers grab water bodies and even rivers, said Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon’s Iqbal Habib.
The authorities give in either under pressure or in lieu of money, he said.
The culture of impunity has been encouraging the crimes against the capital, already facing severe water logging and depleted underground water reserves, he said.
Between 2006 and 2013, 44 square km of perennial wetland and 176 square km of flood flow zones and crop land had been grabbed in and around the capital though they were protected areas under the master plan for the capital, showed a RAJUK survey of last year.
In the next two years, more wetlands and crop lands in and around the capital were swallowed by grabbers.
Rajuk conducted the survey for preparing a new 20-year master plan for the capital.
The government’s detailed area plan, better known as DAP, declared the remaining wetlands
and flood flow zones of the capital as protected areas for environmental conservation.
In August the Department of Environment imposed a fine of Tk 50 lakh Jalsiri Abashon, army personnel’s private housing project for using crop field and wetlands for construction of houses and other facilities between Balu and Shitalakkhya rivers.
But DoE additional director general QSI Hashmi said Jalsiri Abashon would be given clearance as it met the condition of keeping the flows of the canals and the wetlands in the project area undisturbed.
What else could be done after some of the wetlands had already been filled up and the Jalsiri Abason Project got Rajuk’s approval, he said replying to whether action would be taken against Jalsiri for filling up wetlands.
He said that earlier the DoE approved similar projects of private developers after imposing fines.
In 2014, the government altered the DAP to legalize housing projects of powerful groups, including Jalsiri, Protyasha of retired civil servants and Bashundhara Residential Area of East West Property Ltd without environmental impact assessment, said green activists.
Rajuk is under pressure from housing ministry to approve Bashundhara Residential Area’s Block A to P, touching the bank of Balu River without any delays though it encroached upon identified flood flow zones and retention ponds, said Rajuk officials.
DWASA has abandoned its plan to set up a water treatment plant on a retention pond at Khilkhet leaving the site to Basundahara which illegally filled up the retention.
DWASA decided to set up the water treatment plant at Gandharpur in Rupganj.
Rajuk is altering the DAP again to legalize Bangladesh Development Group’s South Town project at Keraniganj and North Town project at Tongi, said officials.
Rajuk officials could not say why no action was taken against Bashundhara Group’s East West Property Development Ltd, Amin Mohammad Group, Jamuna Builders Ltd and at least a dozen other real estate companies though they took new housing projects or extended the existing ones on wetlands on the northern, eastern and southern corners of the capital flouting at least three laws.
Ground realities disprove claims of Rajuk chairman GM Jainal Abedin Bhuiyan that action was taken whenever encroachments occurred.
At Ashulia, Rajuk only removed the dredgers used by Jamun Builders in filling 500 bighas of flood flow zone on the western of Turag River.
Visitors can still see huge billboards of Jamuna Builders Ltd on the filled up flood flow zone of the Turag only disprove RAJUK’s claims.
Jamuna Group’s marketing director M Alamgir Alam denied that they filled up the flood flow zone.
He said that local people did it using dredgers.
Amin Mohammad Group’s executive director Aminul Karim Siddiqui said they were developing a small field on the eastern fringe of the capital and that it’s no extension of their Green Model Town project.
The ‘small filed’ is earmarked in the DAP as a retention pond and no go area for developers.
Bashundhara Group’s media head Abu Tayeb said that urbanization was a continuous process to meet national interests.
Urbanization never causes water logging, he said.
He said filling of canals and encroachment on the rivers were causing water logging and flooding in and around the capital.
Bashundhara Group never filled canals and rivers for its housing projects, said Tayeb.
He said that recovering all the canals and the rivers for tackling water logging in the capital was the responsibility of the government.
‘There is no point in blaming us,’ he said.
A senior official of army’s housing project said that Jalsiri Abason submitted environment impact assessment report to the DoE.
Housing minister Moshartraf Hossain said that his ministry would not provide permissions to projects which obstructed natural flows of rivers and canals.
He said recovery of filled up wetlands and flood flow zones was the responsibility of the police and the administration.
‘The new master plan would keep the flood flow zones unchanged,’ he said.
The up shot is aggravation of recurrent water logging in the capital.
Emboldened by non enforcement wealthy developers and other influential groups continue to grab whatever wetlands and flood flow zones are left in and around the capital raising environmental concerns, said greens.
Everything happens within the knowledge of regulators, but they usually turn a blind eye as the wealthy developers can grease their palms.
Some of the capital’s remaining wetlands and flood flow zones are also under use by different powerful groups including the army, the police and bureaucrats for the construction of their private housing facilities.
The examples emboldened others also to grab wetlands and flood flow zones in and around the capital for construction of homes.
All the grabbers expect that they would get their illegal housing facilities legalized by mounting pressure, paying bribes and at the most fines.
The grabbers know how to bend the land and mollify the housing ministry, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkhya and the Department of Environment.
All the regulators look the other way when wealthy developers grab water bodies and even rivers, said Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon’s Iqbal Habib.
The authorities give in either under pressure or in lieu of money, he said.
The culture of impunity has been encouraging the crimes against the capital, already facing severe water logging and depleted underground water reserves, he said.
Between 2006 and 2013, 44 square km of perennial wetland and 176 square km of flood flow zones and crop land had been grabbed in and around the capital though they were protected areas under the master plan for the capital, showed a RAJUK survey of last year.
In the next two years, more wetlands and crop lands in and around the capital were swallowed by grabbers.
Rajuk conducted the survey for preparing a new 20-year master plan for the capital.
The government’s detailed area plan, better known as DAP, declared the remaining wetlands
and flood flow zones of the capital as protected areas for environmental conservation.
In August the Department of Environment imposed a fine of Tk 50 lakh Jalsiri Abashon, army personnel’s private housing project for using crop field and wetlands for construction of houses and other facilities between Balu and Shitalakkhya rivers.
But DoE additional director general QSI Hashmi said Jalsiri Abashon would be given clearance as it met the condition of keeping the flows of the canals and the wetlands in the project area undisturbed.
What else could be done after some of the wetlands had already been filled up and the Jalsiri Abason Project got Rajuk’s approval, he said replying to whether action would be taken against Jalsiri for filling up wetlands.
He said that earlier the DoE approved similar projects of private developers after imposing fines.
In 2014, the government altered the DAP to legalize housing projects of powerful groups, including Jalsiri, Protyasha of retired civil servants and Bashundhara Residential Area of East West Property Ltd without environmental impact assessment, said green activists.
Rajuk is under pressure from housing ministry to approve Bashundhara Residential Area’s Block A to P, touching the bank of Balu River without any delays though it encroached upon identified flood flow zones and retention ponds, said Rajuk officials.
DWASA has abandoned its plan to set up a water treatment plant on a retention pond at Khilkhet leaving the site to Basundahara which illegally filled up the retention.
DWASA decided to set up the water treatment plant at Gandharpur in Rupganj.
Rajuk is altering the DAP again to legalize Bangladesh Development Group’s South Town project at Keraniganj and North Town project at Tongi, said officials.
Rajuk officials could not say why no action was taken against Bashundhara Group’s East West Property Development Ltd, Amin Mohammad Group, Jamuna Builders Ltd and at least a dozen other real estate companies though they took new housing projects or extended the existing ones on wetlands on the northern, eastern and southern corners of the capital flouting at least three laws.
Ground realities disprove claims of Rajuk chairman GM Jainal Abedin Bhuiyan that action was taken whenever encroachments occurred.
At Ashulia, Rajuk only removed the dredgers used by Jamun Builders in filling 500 bighas of flood flow zone on the western of Turag River.
Visitors can still see huge billboards of Jamuna Builders Ltd on the filled up flood flow zone of the Turag only disprove RAJUK’s claims.
Jamuna Group’s marketing director M Alamgir Alam denied that they filled up the flood flow zone.
He said that local people did it using dredgers.
Amin Mohammad Group’s executive director Aminul Karim Siddiqui said they were developing a small field on the eastern fringe of the capital and that it’s no extension of their Green Model Town project.
The ‘small filed’ is earmarked in the DAP as a retention pond and no go area for developers.
Bashundhara Group’s media head Abu Tayeb said that urbanization was a continuous process to meet national interests.
Urbanization never causes water logging, he said.
He said filling of canals and encroachment on the rivers were causing water logging and flooding in and around the capital.
Bashundhara Group never filled canals and rivers for its housing projects, said Tayeb.
He said that recovering all the canals and the rivers for tackling water logging in the capital was the responsibility of the government.
‘There is no point in blaming us,’ he said.
A senior official of army’s housing project said that Jalsiri Abason submitted environment impact assessment report to the DoE.
Housing minister Moshartraf Hossain said that his ministry would not provide permissions to projects which obstructed natural flows of rivers and canals.
He said recovery of filled up wetlands and flood flow zones was the responsibility of the police and the administration.
‘The new master plan would keep the flood flow zones unchanged,’ he said.
Source: New Age
