Buriganga Riverkeeper Patrol Boat

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Paul

By Sharif Jamil - Waterkeeper Alliance

Eventually after many administrative formalities, the Patrol Boat of Buriganga Riverkeeper is going get the permission for anchoring and patrolling in the river Buriganga.

In this process, Buriganga Riverkeeper along with other community leaders met the Port Officer, Sadarghat Landing Port, BIWTA Mr. Mohammad Ali and visited probable sites for anchoring. During the meeting the activity of Buriganga Riverkeeper was also discussed.

At the same day Buriganga Riverkeeper visited the dockyard where the Patrol Boat is ready to be launched.

After getting the formal letter from BIWTA, we will run the boat for testing immediately. Upon successful testing, we hope to fix the date of Launching within the first week of October 2011.

Buriganga Riverkeeper, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) will jointly organize the Patrol Boat Launching event.

We expect large number of people, professionals, civil society representatives, academicians and policymakers to be present in the event. The event will be held at the Main Lobby of Sadarghat Launch terminal, Dhaka.

Source

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Backgrounder:

Founded in 1999 by environmental attorney and activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and several veteran Waterkeepers, Waterkeeper Alliance is a global movement of on-the-water advocates who patrol and protect over 100,000 miles of rivers, streams and coastlines in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa.

Waterkeepers combine first hand knowledge of their waterways with an unwavering commitment to the rights of their communities and to the rule of law. Whether they are on the water tracking down polluters, in a courtroom advocating for stronger enforcement of environmental laws, at a town meeting rallying community support, or in a classroom educating young people, Waterkeepers defend their communities against anyone who threatens their right to clean water—from law-breaking polluters to unresponsive government agencies.

Made up of more than 190 local Waterkeeper organizations—employing more than 400 full-time and 200 part-time environmental activists, educators, scientists and attorneys— Waterkeeper Alliance keeps Waterkeepers connected, provides them with legal, scientific and communications support, and unites their voices as they take on major global water issues together.

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Bangladesh, India sign deals to protect tigers

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Paul

AFP

DHAKA — Bangladesh and India signed two deals to tackle poaching of critically-endangered Bengal tigers from the world’s largest mangrove forest, an official said on Wednesday.

The deals were confirmed after meetings in Dhaka on Tuesday evening between visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Bangladeshi counterpart Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Although the UNESCO-listed, 10,000-square-kilometre (4,000-square-mile) Sundarbans forest straddles the two nations, there have been no previous joint efforts by India and Bangladesh to conserve the Bengal tiger.

“These two landmark agreements (will) go a long way towards protecting tigers and other endangered animals in the forest,” Bangladesh’s forestry and environment secretary Mesbahul Alam told AFP.

“Cooperation between the two nations is essential because tigers roam freely. Smugglers and poachers also operate on both sides,” he added.

Local experts say only 200 of the big cats now live in the Sunderbans, down from 440 in 2004 — thanks largely to poaching by international animal smugglers and mob beatings by villagers who are hostile to tigers.

Tiger skins and bones are highly sought after for use in traditional medicines across Asia.

Under the deals, both sides will share information, begin joint scientific monitoring and research projects, and train forest officials.

Source-AFP by way of Google News

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Comes water, comes festivity

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Paul

Morshed Ali Khan for The Daily Star

Arrival of upstream floodwaters has not only flushed the stagnant dirty water out of the four rivers around the capital but also sparked festivity among millions of people on the banks.

With the fresh waters from the Jamuna in the north rushing down through a network of 150 kilometres of rivers and canals, gangetic dolphins have also returned to these rivers.

The positive indication however does not stop the polluters. Millions of gallons of untreated industrial and domestic waste is still dumped into the rivers every day. Only the rush of floodwaters immediately disperses the pollutants downstream.

Taking advantage of the clean water, every day thousands of men, women and children from villages and suburban areas along the rivers are seen pleasure-tripping on motorised and country boats. From every locality along the rivers, people are organising river cruises on the weekends taking with them loudspeakers and singing parties.

Townships along the rivers are also organising boat races and other aquatic sports. Men, women and children on the banks are now seen washing and bathing in the rivers — an unthinkable act only a month ago.

Within the last four weeks, water level in the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Sitalakhya has risen to over five metres, flushing the dirty water downstream and creating a solid downward current, say experts at the river water monitoring cell of the Water Development Board.

During the dry season the level of the stagnant water in these rivers varies from one to three metres.

During the seven months of dry period, the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Sitalakhya remain totally stagnant, accumulating millions of tonnes of untreated toxic waste, sewers and solid waste and becoming a veritable pit of sludge.

Residents along the rivers always wait for the flood season to benefit from the rivers, which otherwise remain so dirty and toxic that even the water cannot be touched.

Delwara Sharmin, a private university student, her parents, grandparents, sisters and their children last Friday morning hired a motorised boat for Tk 2,000 for the day and went on a river cruise from Kholamora. Like every year, the stink of the Buriganga puts the family through physical and mental sufferings for over six months, she said.

“The fresh floodwater brings delight to the people in our neighbourhood. Ask anyone in my family on this boat, they will vote for keeping the river clean round the year,” she added.

Sharmin’s grandfather, retired schoolteacher Mohammad Shamsul Huda, said pollution in the Buriganga has made many elderly people in his area very sick.

“They [polluters] have no right to inflict such pain on millions of people living along the rivers. You have to live here during the dry season to realise the sufferings of the people,” Huda said.

For millions of families like Sharmin’s living along the rivers, there appears a ray of hope as the government launches a project to rejuvenate Dhaka’s river system with round-the-year water flow within the next three years.

The good news comes with the launch of the Tk 945 crore Buriganga River Restoration Project, in which about 62 kilometres of the New Dhaleshwari, Pungli, Bangshi and Turag rivers upstream the capital would be dredged to restore flow with the Jamuna.

The entire length of the 162.5 kilometres between Dhaka and New Dhaleshwari offtake, half a kilometre downstream of the Bangabandhu Jamuna Bridge, would be restored to maintain flow in the river system of the capital.

Source

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Buriganga recovery begins this week

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Paul Stewart

Dredging of 23km waterways around Dhaka starts soon writes Sharier Khan for The Daily Star.

The Water Development Board (WDB) after many months of delay has finally selected contractors under the Buriganga River Restoration Project to begin dredging parts of the Buriganga and Turag to increase their navigability.

Insiders say the WDB selection of several contractors is now awaiting approval of the water ministry. The board would immediately issue work orders after the approval, which is likely this week, they add.

Directed by the prime minister, the WDB undertook the Tk 944.09 crore project last year to salvage the lifeless Buriganga that has been battered by industrial waste, especially tannery waste from Hazaribagh for decades.

The project, scheduled to be completed in 2013, aims at reviving the Buriganga by diverting water from the Jamuna. The Jamuna water would be brought into the Turag and Buriganga through the New Dhaleshwari in Tangail and Pungli and Bangshi rivers involving 162 kilometres of waterways.

WDB officials yesterday said the first phase of the project would kick-start with the aim to dredge and clear 23 km of waterways in the Buriganga and Turag. This phase emphasises increasing navigability in the waterways for Dhaka circular waterways.

“The tender process suffered delay because most contractors could not ensure dredgers,” said a high official. “We are expecting bigger participation of contractors in the next phase as many contractors would be prepared to supply equipment by then based on the first round of tender.”

Before the WDB launched its restoration work, the government had conducted a survey of the rivers and the Institute of Water Modeling is now updating the survey data.

On the other side, the water board is designing sluice gates on the Jamuna near the Bangabandhu Jamuna Bridge from where the waters would be diverted to the Buriganga.

The WDB is also preparing tender for dredging of another 15 km waterways in Pungli and Bangshi rivers.

“Our aim is to divert 300 metre cubes of water per second from the Jamuna to the Buriganga during the lean season. Currently, the project may not have gathered momentum, but by next year there will be a lot of activities,” said the high official.

Under the restoration project, the WDB would remove seven crore cubic metres of waste and silt from the 162 km waterways. Majority of this silt would be removed manually, while about 1.5 crore cubic metres of silt will be removed by dredging.

Side by side with implementation of the project, the government would have to ensure relocation of the Hazaribagh tanneries to Savar. The relocation is vital, but it has remained stalled for several years due to delay in setting up a centralised Effluent Treatment Plan in Savar so that these industries do not cause large-scale water pollution in future.

Pollution in the Buriganga is so acute that the river has no marine life for many years and its water poses high health hazards. Besides, Dhaka dwellers have also been deprived of using more surface water. Dhaka’s overreliance on the subsoil water has caused an alarming depletion of water table.

While the leather sector brought home hundreds of millions dollars in export earning over the decades, its pollution took its toll on the fish resources, the economic value of which had never been calculated.

The tanners also avoided taking any responsibility in treating their waste till recent years.

Source

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Dhaka, Delhi agree on water deal

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Paul Stewart

Sify

Dhaka, Jan 10 (IANS) Bangladesh and India Monday said they have ‘removed all differences’ and agreed on a framework regarding a 15-year interim water-sharing treaty of two common rivers - Teesta and Feni - during the dry season.

Delegations participating in a joint meeting said the agreement will be signed during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh later this year.

The announcement came at a joint news briefing following day-long secretary-level talks of the Joint River Commission (JRC) on sharing the water of common rivers.

‘We have agreed on a framework. But, we still need to do the fine tuning,’ said Dhruv Vijai Singh, secretary to India’s ministry of water resources, who led the Indian delegation.

‘We have worked hard to remove the differences,’ he said, adding that the governments of both the countries are committed to settle all outstanding issues, the Daily Star quoted him as saying.

He said they stressed economic development of both the nations.

The details of the agreement will be settled in the minister-level meeting, the delegation said, without giving any potential date for the talks.

‘Only the job of fine tuning of the treaty is remaining,’ said Sheikh Mohammed Wahiduzzaman, secretary to Bangladesh’s water resources ministry, the chief of the country’s delegation.

‘Hopefully, we would not have to sit in the secretary-level any more over this agreement,’ he said.

The joint statement read: ‘The two sides also discussed to formulate a work plan on sharing the waters of other common rivers including Dharla, Dudhkumar, Manu, Khowai, Gumti and Muhuri between India and Bangladesh.’

Though the two neighbouring countries share a total of 54 rivers, Bangladesh is currently having only a treaty of sharing of water of the Ganges, signed in 1996.

The water of the Teesta is very crucial for Bangladesh, especially in the leanest period from December to March. Sometimes in December and January, the water flow comes down to less than 1,000 cusecs from 5,000 cusecs.

The delegations have been discussing the issue for over two decades in a bid to settle it.

A Ganga Water Treaty was signed in 1996 during the earlier tenure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina whose visit to New Delhi in January 2010 stepped up the pace of all-round cooperation.

Source

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Ceremonial immersion of Goddess Durga

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Paul Stewart

Demotix

Durga Puja, the great religious festival of the Hindu community comes to an end today; in the day of Bijoya Dashamee, the final day of five-day festival. On this very day, the Durga is to be immersed with solemnities into the water. In Dhaka, the favourite place for immersion of the Goddess Durga is the River Buriganga. Thousands of people come to immerse their beloved Goddess Durga into the river. According to Bishuddha Shiddhanta Panjika, the Hindu religious almanac, this year the goddess Durga arrived on earth in a palanquin and will return by an elephant. Though the palanquin symbolises rough weather, the departure on elephant indicates a good harvest.

According to Hindu mythology a demon named Mahishasura, earned the favour of Lord Shiva after a long and hard penance. Lord Shiva, impressed with his devotion, blessed him that no man or deity would be able to kill him and that only a woman could kill him. Mahishasura was very pleased with this boon as he thought that a woman could never defeat him. Arrogant Mahishasura started his reign of terror over the Universe and people were killed mercilessly. He even attacked the abode of the gods and conquered the heavens and became their leader.

Goddess Durga represents a united front of all Divine forces against the negative forces of evil and wickedness. The gods in heaven decided to create an all-powerful being to kill the demon king Mahishasura who was ready to attack them. At that very moment a lightning bolt dazzled forth from the mouths of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh and it turned into a beautiful, magnificent woman with ten hands. Then all the gods furnished her with their special weapons. The image of Durga, the Eternal Mother destroying the demon, Mahishasura is symbolic of the final confrontation of the spiritual urge of man with his base passions.

Visit this link for great pictures

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Biodiversity in Bangladesh

Posted on October 2, 2010 by Paul Stewart

Biodiversity in Bangladesh? For real?

Often touted as the first country to sink under the ocean due to the impending sea level rise due to the effects of climate change I was very pleasantly surprised to receive a link to this video in my mail box.

This promotional video is part of the Prokriti O Jibon (Nature and Life) Foundations’ efforts to illustrate the extraordinary biodiversity in this delta nation. The final episode of an 8 part series remains to be broadcast on The Channel 1 network in Bangladesh in the next few days.

Although for a home audience, I hope they let the cat out of the bag and put it all up on youTube. No questions asked.

Bangladesh is rich in freshwater and sediment resources with habitat for an extraordinary array of flora and fauna. The government of Bangladesh can really leverage something like this, and perhaps should do it quickly, before the opportunities really are lost forever.

I have never come across a report or review that has highlighted the potential ‘eco’ touristic opportunities of Bangladesh. Far, far away from a suffocated Buriganga river, the polluting tanneries, land grabbing and population explosion of Dhaka.

It makes me want to go and see it for myself.

Thanks to Anis for the link

For more information:

Prokriti O Jibon Foundation, House-42, Road-8, Block-D, Niketon, Gulshan-1, Dhaka-1212. Bangladesh.
Tel: +88 02 9898323
Email: prokritiojibon[at]gmail.com

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Polluters must pay

Posted on September 19, 2010 by Paul Stewart

From The Daily Star

Seminar seeks integrated approach for river drive

The government must make the polluters pay for cleaning up the river Buriganga and undertake an integrated and scientific approach to this end, demanded leading environmental activists and experts at a seminar in the city yesterday.

Environmentalist group Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) organised the seminar titled ‘Buriganga Clean-up: Approaches and Realities’ at the Jatiya Press Club.

It is shocking to see the mindless grabbing and pollution of the rivers around Dhaka by the industrial units, said Shahjahan Khan, shipping minister, while speaking as the chief guest.

“Many Dhaka canals are without a trace today due to grabbing by local public representatives,” he said adding, “Kalyanpur canal has been grabbed in this manner by a former lawmaker.”

No finance minister has as yet paid heed to the demand for incorporating the ‘polluters pay principle’ in the national budget, said Prof Muzaffer Ahmad, Bapa president and a noted economist.

The polluters of the river Thames, famous for its history, were made to pay by a law in 1383, said Prof Md Mujibur Rahman of civil engineering department of Buet while making the keynote presentation.

He recommended stopping tannery and domestic wastes from releasing in the river, cleaning the riverbed in a planned and scientific manner to restore the water quality of the four rivers around Dhaka.

Citing official records, Bapa Joint Secretary Mihir Biswas said a total of 6000 tonnes of liquid waste is dumped into the Buriganga every day, half of which comes from Hazaribagh tanneries.

Buriganga and other rivers around the capital are polluted every day with thousands of tonnes of solid and liquid wastes coming from domestic and industrial sources, he added.

Toxic heavy metal like chromium, used in Hazaribagh tannery units and released directly in the Buriganga, may cause genetic disorder, birth defects and cancer if it gets in the food cycle, the seminar was told.

The unplanned and half-hearted drive to clean the Burignaga bed created an additional problem, said Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan, editor, Defence and Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) requires three permanent magistrates to effectively guard the 112 kilometres length of four rivers including Balu, Turag and Shitalakkhya around Dhaka, said Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Bapa vice-president.

Sanjida Khanom MP and Taksim A Khan, managing director of Dhaka Wasa, among others, addressed the seminar chaired by Prof Muzaffer Ahmad.

Source

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Dhaka, Bangladesh: Fastest Growing City in the World

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Paul Stewart

A five-part, multimedia series on the coming dystopia that is urbanisation. By Erik German and Solana Pyne - GlobalPost

DHAKA, Bangladesh — The future is here, and it smells like burning trash.

As the evening call to prayer echoes across Dhaka’s teeming slums, a bluish haze rises in the murky air. Cooking happens mostly on open fires in the shantytowns of the Bangladeshi capital, the flames kindled with paper, scavenged lumber and bits of plastic junk.

On a recent evening in a broken labyrinth of shacks called the Korail slum, a wiry young mother in a red sari stooped to light the clay hearth outside her family’s one-room home. Mina, 24, touched her match to a castoff vinyl folder, three-hole-punched for documents she’ll never read.

“I don’t like to live in Dhaka,” she said, fanning the smoking plastic, then laying splintered bamboo on top. “But we have a dream to buy a piece of land, some land back in our village.”

Mina, who uses only one name, followed her husband here in 2009 — joining the nearly half-million migrants who pour into Dhaka each year. It’s not clear how soon, if ever, they’ll leave. Mina’s husband saves only a few dollars each month from his job selling fish. Mina, meanwhile, cares for their two children and, like millions of other women here, fires up the family’s nightly meal.

Read Part One of Five… All after the jump.

Read and watch.

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BIWTA Plans to Dredge Buriganga River

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Brett Ciccotelli

By Morshed Ali Khan and Tawfique Ali for The Daily Star

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority is going to launch a Tk 6.6 crore project to dredge parts of the Buriganga river although some traders are offering to do it free of cost and would rather pay for the extracted sand.

The BIWTA officials have completely ignored the sand traders’ offer, selected a private contractor for the job and forwarded the project file to the Board of Members for final approval. The BIWTA board may approve the project any day.

Preparedness of BIWTA for the project to be launched this month is so vague and mysterious that when asked, Chief Engineer (Dredging) Abdul Matin said they would return the money to the exchequer if they are able to sell the sand.

The Daily Star has obtained copies of the “detailed” project proposal and nowhere in it did the BIWTA officials mention about sale of this valuable commodity or “return of project money”.

According to its own estimate, BIWTA envisages to extract 4 lakh cubic metres of “sand, soil, sludge and solid waste” from a stretch of 1,750 metres from Muslimbagh Primary School up to Barishur in Kamrangirchar.

The proposal at times highlights extraction of “sludge and solid wastes” — a job that requires specialised grab crane dredgers and site for disposal of the waste — not conventional cutter suction dredgers envisaged by the proposal.

Jahangir Alam, organising secretary of Bangladesh Bulkhead Labour Association, that controls over 5,000 bulkheads in sand trading, said the riverbed between Muslimbagh and Barishur contains top quality sand for which every trader would be interested.

“The government does not have to spend anything. We will pay for extraction and the sand at any market rate,” Jahangir Alam said.

“The demand for the Buriganga sand is extremely high because buyers are everywhere along its banks. The bulkhead companies do not have to travel long distance with the commodity,” Alam added.

“Hundreds of landowners and real estate developers will instantly grab the sand.”

The sand extracted could be sold for over Tk 8 crore at Tk 25 per cubic metre [current price at extraction site], the chief engineer admitted when asked over the matter.

A source at the shipping ministry told The Daily Star the project was “cooked up” to steal money.

The Buriganga River | Brett Ciccotelli

“The government is very serious about redressing the rivers and a lot of money will be pouring in, but a group of people are just waiting to grab it,” said the official source. “The hush-hush about the sand revenue is a long practice in BIWTA because not many people are aware of this business,” the source added.

The chief engineer told The Daily Star it is not in their practice to mention in the project proposal how much revenue could be earned from the commodity. “We do not mention anything about the revenue because it is not certain that we will be able to sell the sand,” he said.

He however said since the matter has come to light his office would float an open tender to sell the sand.

The chief engineer approved the project’s financial allocation, while the chairman of BIWTA gave administrative endorsement.

Md Abdul Maleque Miah, chairman of BIWTA, was taken by surprise when asked about the matter.

“If this sand is saleable, it will be sold. But we don’t often get interested buyers,” he said. He however defended taking up of the project at this cost saying, “the project was necessary to ascertain how much sand could be sold.”

According to Jahangir, price of per square foot of sand in the Buriganga is Tk 1, while it is Tk 0.6 in the Meghna and Tk 0.4 in the Dhaleshwari. Per square foot of Buriganga sand is sold at Tk 2 at consumers’ end for filling up of various development sites.

The selected contractor of the project has just imported a modern cutter suction dredger for the job. The sand extracted from the riverbed has to be deposited away from the river. Insiders say officials are now secretly “talking with real estate developers in the vicinity who are desperately trying to buy this valuable commodity to fill up vast low-lying land on the fringe of the city”.

Deposition site of this sand away from the river is the most vital precondition for dredging, said Prof Abdul Matin, head of the water resources department at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).

The project has so far no hydrographical designs, showing draft and status of the river. River dredging must be carried according to hydrographical design prepared on the basis of longitudinal profiling and elevation of the bed, Prof Matin added.

Both Abdul Maleque and Engineer Abdul Matin said they would soon prepare the hydrographical design.

Prof Mujibur Rahman of civil engineering department at Buet said dredging without proper survey and design might destabilise the slopes and result in bank erosion damaging the navigable channels and settlements.

The Tk 6.6 crore for the project originates from the allocation of Tk 19.7 crore for Climate Change Trust Fund for a project titled “Removal of Polythene and other Waste from the Beds of the Rivers Buriganga and Turag”.

Source Dredging Today

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