Badly polluted Old Brahmaputra needs steps to survive

The Old Brahmaputra, once a mighty river running through Narsingdi district, is now dying because of unabated discharge of factory wastes and chemicals apart from encroachment. Some 100 dyeing factories and textile industries set up over 5-6 kilometers of the riverbank at Polash and Narsingdi Sadar upazila are spilling untreated toxic and chemical contaminated water into the river destroying its ecosystem. During a visit to bank of the Brahmaputra River, this correspondent found that a number of the dyeing, printing and textiles industries and other factories have been built by grabbing the river, and the factories are discharging highly toxic water into it. Although it is mandatory to set up an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in every factory before going to its operation as per the laws of Department of Environment (DoE), most of the factories are not following the DoE rules. Recalling its lost beauty and old fury, a sexagenarian said the river once was so vibrant with hundreds of boats sailing around and the local people, including fishermen, and farmers, depending on it for their own various purposes. Now locals fear that the continuation of discharge of untreated effluents into the river water would not only kill the fishes but also dent the future of the framers in the region. “The dyeing factories are not only killing the river but also destroying our future,” said Idris Ali, an inhabitant of Gonergaon village of Shilmandi Union under Sadar upazila, according to UNB.