Green activists urge govt to protect Pushpa Saha Pond

Green activists threatened Friday to take tougher steps involving local people if the government fails to recover the Pushpa Saha Pond in old part of the city, reports UNB.

They said the Pushpa Saha Pond is the only wetland in the area, which used to contribute a lot to cutting water-logging during monsoon apart from being used as a water source during any fire incident in the area.

Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA), Green Mind Society and Pushpa Saha Pond Recovery Committee jointly organised the rally on the bank of the pond in the morning to press home their demand to protect the historic pond from illegal occupation.

POBA chairman Abu Naser Khan said local people have long been using the pond which has been playing an important role in maintaining the ecological balance in a densely populated area like old Dhaka.

But, he said, the pond is going to be disappeared for lack of government efforts to protect the water body from grabbing and pollution.

Mr Naser urged the government to take immediate steps to save the pond by recovering it from grabbers so that the local community can use it again.

Green activists Syed Monwar Hossain, Engr Abdus Sobhan and Aslam Khan, Bangladesh Peace Movement president Prof Kamla Ataur Rahman, Green Mind Society president Amir Hasan and coordinator of Pushpa Saha Pond Recovery Committee M Saimul Islam also addressed the rally.