Save Ashulia: a threatened wetland near capital
Friday, 1 May 2009
Khadiza Begum
The Ashulia Lake, a blessing of god, is one of the nicest and most romantic places near Dhaka, Bangladesh. People love to go there with their friends and families. In this mechanical urban life, city-dwellers yearn for a place where they can enjoy natural beauty of the place to pass their leisure time. But the overpopulated Dhaka city has few open spaces and large water bodies for recreation. Nowadays Ashulia is a popular tourist spot to meet the demand of recreational needs of the people with boating and other facilities for the city dwellers. It is a nice place where one can get fresh air for recreation. For its ineffable beauty during monsoon, it is called Cox's Bazar of Dhaka. Again in winter it has another attraction for its greenery and exquisite beauty of the paddy and vegetable fields.
In dry season, Ashulia has high agricultural value. About 10 maunds of paddy are produced from each bigha of land. According to the information of Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation, in Ashulia there are 62 per cent people directly involved in agriculture.
On the other hand, from May to September there is immense opportunity for fishing and boating. About 8.0 per cent people are engaged in fishing in the wet season.
Wetlands of Ashulia play a vital role as catchment areas in facilitating the drainage of water from Dhaka city in the wet season. The lowlands of Ashulia serve as the withholding body for the surplus water of the Turag and Balu rivers during rainy season as these rivers have no specific banks of their own.
The growth of urban population is taking place at a remarkably rapid rate. The wetlands and lowlands around the Dhaka city like Ashulia are getting degraded due to rapid urbanization. The developers are filling the lowlands of Ashulia to build apartment complexes. The real estate companies have started the process of land buying since the middle of 2001. Sometimes they create pressure on the landowner to sell their land to the developers.
In many cases, it has been found that the landowners have got only the contract money, in spite of passing many years after contract, they didn't get the full price of their land. It has been found from field observation that 10 per cent areas have been grabbed by the developer companies.
The developers are filling the lowlands with earth and sands and the sand is spread over the surrounding lands. As a result, productivity of these lands is decreasing. Besides this, many brick manufacturing units are located there due to low price of soil and good convenience for the transportation of bricks to Dhaka.
According to the information of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), it has been found that withdrawal of water in Dhaka was 0.109 (Mm3/day) in 1970 but in 2003 it was greater than before that is 1.5 (Mm3/day). On the other hand, groundwater table was 0.5m-10.5m in 1970, but it has been found 19-54m in 2003. So it is clear that with the growth of urbanization, water table is going down. If the groundwater table declines in such a distressing way due to uncontrolled construction by filling up the wetlands, Dhaka city will face severe water shortage in the long run.
If the lowlands area of Ashulia is filled up for construction, then it will threaten the Uttara Dam. The vast amount of water that is retained at Ashulia will flood hundreds of peripheral villages and break the flood protection embankment of Uttara and the city.
So, severe drainage congestion will occur in Dhaka if the low-lying areas of Ashulia are filled up for land development.
In the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (1995-2015), Ashulia is demarcated as the main flood flow zone. According to the policy of structure plan, land development for residential, commercial and industrial development is strictly prohibited in the main flood flow zone.
On the other hand, there is an important legislation-the Water Body Conservation Act, 2000. According to this act, for conservation of all playgrounds, open space, park and natural reservoir, change of any natural land is prohibited in all municipalities including those in the capital city, divisional and district towns. But about 80 per cent people are unaware of this act.
Ashulia is not only playing a vital role as a wetland but also as a recreational spot. The popularity of Ashulia is increasing day by day. This popularity and significant function as wetland demonstrates the need to develop and conserve Ashulia as an attractive tourist spot with proper amenities.
Authorities concerned need to take appropriate measures immediately to stop illegal encroachment in Ashulia. Effective plan should be taken to conserve Ashulia as a sustainable water body and a major wetland in order to develop it as an attractive tourist spot.
The writer is a social researcher. She can be reached at email: khadiza.begumbd@gmail.com
The Ashulia Lake, a blessing of god, is one of the nicest and most romantic places near Dhaka, Bangladesh. People love to go there with their friends and families. In this mechanical urban life, city-dwellers yearn for a place where they can enjoy natural beauty of the place to pass their leisure time. But the overpopulated Dhaka city has few open spaces and large water bodies for recreation. Nowadays Ashulia is a popular tourist spot to meet the demand of recreational needs of the people with boating and other facilities for the city dwellers. It is a nice place where one can get fresh air for recreation. For its ineffable beauty during monsoon, it is called Cox's Bazar of Dhaka. Again in winter it has another attraction for its greenery and exquisite beauty of the paddy and vegetable fields.
In dry season, Ashulia has high agricultural value. About 10 maunds of paddy are produced from each bigha of land. According to the information of Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation, in Ashulia there are 62 per cent people directly involved in agriculture.
On the other hand, from May to September there is immense opportunity for fishing and boating. About 8.0 per cent people are engaged in fishing in the wet season.
Wetlands of Ashulia play a vital role as catchment areas in facilitating the drainage of water from Dhaka city in the wet season. The lowlands of Ashulia serve as the withholding body for the surplus water of the Turag and Balu rivers during rainy season as these rivers have no specific banks of their own.
The growth of urban population is taking place at a remarkably rapid rate. The wetlands and lowlands around the Dhaka city like Ashulia are getting degraded due to rapid urbanization. The developers are filling the lowlands of Ashulia to build apartment complexes. The real estate companies have started the process of land buying since the middle of 2001. Sometimes they create pressure on the landowner to sell their land to the developers.
In many cases, it has been found that the landowners have got only the contract money, in spite of passing many years after contract, they didn't get the full price of their land. It has been found from field observation that 10 per cent areas have been grabbed by the developer companies.
The developers are filling the lowlands with earth and sands and the sand is spread over the surrounding lands. As a result, productivity of these lands is decreasing. Besides this, many brick manufacturing units are located there due to low price of soil and good convenience for the transportation of bricks to Dhaka.
According to the information of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), it has been found that withdrawal of water in Dhaka was 0.109 (Mm3/day) in 1970 but in 2003 it was greater than before that is 1.5 (Mm3/day). On the other hand, groundwater table was 0.5m-10.5m in 1970, but it has been found 19-54m in 2003. So it is clear that with the growth of urbanization, water table is going down. If the groundwater table declines in such a distressing way due to uncontrolled construction by filling up the wetlands, Dhaka city will face severe water shortage in the long run.
If the lowlands area of Ashulia is filled up for construction, then it will threaten the Uttara Dam. The vast amount of water that is retained at Ashulia will flood hundreds of peripheral villages and break the flood protection embankment of Uttara and the city.
So, severe drainage congestion will occur in Dhaka if the low-lying areas of Ashulia are filled up for land development.
In the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (1995-2015), Ashulia is demarcated as the main flood flow zone. According to the policy of structure plan, land development for residential, commercial and industrial development is strictly prohibited in the main flood flow zone.
On the other hand, there is an important legislation-the Water Body Conservation Act, 2000. According to this act, for conservation of all playgrounds, open space, park and natural reservoir, change of any natural land is prohibited in all municipalities including those in the capital city, divisional and district towns. But about 80 per cent people are unaware of this act.
Ashulia is not only playing a vital role as a wetland but also as a recreational spot. The popularity of Ashulia is increasing day by day. This popularity and significant function as wetland demonstrates the need to develop and conserve Ashulia as an attractive tourist spot with proper amenities.
Authorities concerned need to take appropriate measures immediately to stop illegal encroachment in Ashulia. Effective plan should be taken to conserve Ashulia as a sustainable water body and a major wetland in order to develop it as an attractive tourist spot.
The writer is a social researcher. She can be reached at email: khadiza.begumbd@gmail.com