Youths for stopping pond filling as per direction of HC in Rajshahi

A large number of youths and students from different parts of the city unequivocally called for stopping ponds and water bodies from filling in the city indiscriminately as per the direction of the High Court (HC).

Simultaneously, they also underscored the need for full-length implementation of the High Court verdict for betterment of the city dwellers. Immediate steps should be taken to recover the filled ponds.

The youths made the call while addressing a youth-chain-cum-street corner meeting at Shaheb Bazar Zero point in the city on Wednesday, reports BSS.

The Reformation Community of Bangladesh and the Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (BARCIK) jointly organised the meeting to press home the demands.

Youth leaders Zulfiker Ali Haider, Naznin Naher, Rakibul Hassan, Tahura Khatun and BARCIK Regional Coordinator Shahidul Islam, among others, addressed the meeting.

The meeting was told that numerous ponds were being filled by dumping waste so that the water there would be contaminated. As the High Court has given a directive to stop the filling of all kinds of wetlands in and around the city of Rajshahi, a vested interest group is using a new tactic to fill ponds.

Shahidul Islam said around 4,000 ponds have been filled because of the indiscriminate earth-dumping and unplanned urbanisation in the last five decades.

Referring to the official records, he said there were 4,238 ponds, canals, and wetlands in the city in 1961, while in 1981 the number was 2,271, in 2000 the number stood at 729 and now the city has only 214 water bodies which showed that the authorities concerned do not have any control over the vested interested groups' activities.

Islam also said the High Court gave a directive to stop filling of all kinds of wetlands in and around the city on December 13, 2010, following a writ petition.

In many cases, the Rajshahi Development Authority (RDA) as well as Rajshahi City Corporation could not take strict action against land grabbers.

Although the Rajshahi City Corporation had taken a project involving Tk 206.24 crore to conserve 53 natural water bodies in and around the city to retain its surface water resources for protecting the environment from further environmental degradation, the city authority might not implement its project for unknown reasons.

The project was supposed to preserve 53 ponds construct embankments along the ponds and excavate and re-excavation those water bodies.