Recovering canals and lakes

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Although welcomed by many, the government is yet to implement a decision it took a few months ago to cancel the allotment of plots on Hatirjheel and Begunbari canals. One can still see the banners of different business houses and organisations on the banks of the canals.
No action has been taken to recover the land, grabbed from the two canals. In many areas, along the canals, the walls, erected to hide from public view, the grabbed lands, have not yet been demolished.
No land grabber should be allowed to build structures on waterbodies. The capital city faces severe space shortage for which many grabbers set their eyes on the two canals. But it is the duty of the government to maintain the city's environmental balance. And the canals play an important role in maintaining the balance. Saving the remaining canals and lakes of the city is necessary to tackle its water-logging and drainage problem.
We expect that the government would soon go for action to revive the city's environment and ensure its smooth drainage. The unauthorised signboards and walls should be pulled down to demarcate the boundaries of the canals and develop walkways along them.
If it is done, none would, in future, try to grab the two canals' land.
Mahmudur Rahman
Tejgaon, Dhaka