Driving out river bank grabbers

The government has sporadically carried out the programme of getting rid of unauthorised structures along the banks of the rivers surrounding the Dhaka city. The result of such drives in the past has been very frustrating. Within days after the 'river bank clean-up' drives, new unauthorised structures were seen springing up again. The government has of late announced a fresh decision to conduct drives by mobile courts to remove illegal structures constructed on the banks of four rivers -- the Buriganga, the Sitalakhya, the Turag and the Balu -- running along the belt of Dhaka city and its adjoining areas. The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of a taskforce, headed by Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, last week.
It is to be noted that the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has been conducting similar drives for quite sometime to remove unauthorised structures in areas adjacent to the river ports of Dhaka and Narayanganj. Since 2000, it has removed 4,364 such illegal structures.  But a vast tract of land beyond the areas cleaned up by the BIWTA has remained under unauthorised occupation. Usually, the river banks are grabbed to build unauthorised structures near the major urban centres since the lands are very precious there. The land grabbers usually try to use their links to the party or parties in power in pursuit of their nefarious goal of getting hold of government land illegally.
The problem of large-scale grabbing of land along the rivers in question has turned serious because of the failure of the authorities concerned to drive out the grabbers initially, who were very few in numbers then, and demolish the unauthorised structures. Such indifference has encouraged others to follow suit and occupy river banks. Over time the grabbers have become a strong force, enjoying, in many cases, political backing. Another important reason for the eviction drives not paying off dividend is the failure to monitor the state of the lands vacated by the grabbers.  That is why land, freed once from the grabbers, has been occupied illegally again.
The situation in the case of the banks of the Buriganga is altogether different. Just because of high value of land along the banks of this river, the 'fight' to grab the same is very intense and the people involved in the race are powerful. If the government really wants to protect the banks of the Buriganga in particular, it will have to remove all the illegal structures from the river banks, build concrete roads, plant trees and keep the roads clean and free the same from all types of illegal occupation.  Water of the main river of any capital city nowhere in the world is probably as polluted as that of the Buriganga. The bank of the Buriganga along Dhaka city wears a very ugly look. While making efforts to make Dhaka livable, the city fathers must not forget its shoreline.