Pollution in Ctg city poses threat to environment

CHATTOGRAM, June 10: The natural environment of the port city is under threat due to severe pollution, rampant hill cutting, indiscriminate tree felling, poor drainage system and discharge of clinical, industrial and household waste into canals and rivers.
Sources said the water of the Bay of Bengal and the River Karnaphuli is getting polluted due to discharge of oil and chemicals from ships and industrial units.
Secretary of Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) Omar Faruk said CPA is concerned over environmental pollution.
"We have taken steps to cut pollution in the Bay of Bengal and River Karnaphuli," he added.
According to the sources, hill cutting is rampant in Chattogram. A section of dishonest people are involved in hill cutting in the port city, resulting in serious ecological imbalance and environmental disaster. Hill cutting is the main cause behind landslides here.
On the other hand, around six million city dwellers used to throw their household waste into canals and drains due to lack of proper sewerage and drainage system.
Three canals-Nasir Khal, Bohadder Hat Khal, and Hijra Khal-were filled with earth earlier.
Waste is also dumped into the five-kilometre long Chaktai Khal. As a result, the canal overflows its both sides during rainy season, causing immense sufferings to more than five lakh residents in the areas.
Besides, clinical waste produced by at least 200 hospitals and clinics is polluting the port city, posing threat to public health. Some clinics and hospitals dump clinical waste on open space in the city.
However, the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) has recently taken steps to remove clinical waste from different parts of the city.
The CCC decided to remove all clinical waste produced by the clinics and hospitals and issued notice to the authorities concerned in this regard.
Mayor of CCC Alhaj AJM Nasir Uddin has launched the cleanliness programme aiming to make the Chattogram city clean.
As part of the programme, the mayor has started removing the dustbins from roadsides. Besides, the CCC has started collecting household waste under the door-to-door project launched during the tenure of the incumbent mayor.
Mr Nasir Uddin said a good number of development projects have been taken up at the cost of around Tk 1.87 billions. "We have taken up the projects as per the recommendations, put forward by experts, aiming to make the city green and clean."
He also said, "We hope that all city dwellers will help make the city clean. It is true that garbage polluted the environment of the city earlier, posing threat to health of city dwellers. We are now trying our best to do better than anytime earlier."
Md Azadur Rahman Mollick, Director of Department of Environment (DoE) in Chattogram said, "The DoE has already taken steps to stop hill cutting, combat pollution of rivers and deal with all issues regarding the environment."
Besides, the government is now taking various steps to save the rivers and hills and protect the biodiversity, the director added.
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