Conduct eviction drive on Karnaphuli river banks or face lawsuit: Environmentalists to Ctg DC
Chattogram River and Canal Protection Movement leaders have warned of lodging a complaint in the High Court against the district administration for contempt of court and disobeying the order of the National River Conservation Commission chairman if an eviction drive against the illegal structures on the banks of the River Karnaphuli is not conducted within seven days.
They made the announcement from a human chain on Sunday organised at Sadarghat on the bank of the river Karnaphuli.
Speakers in the human chain said that the chairman of the National River Conservation Commission issued the order to the Chattogram district administration to demolish the illegal structures on the banks of the River Karnaphuli within seven working days.
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Although 20 days have passed since the Chattogram district administration accepted that order on 18 December, no visible initiative has been taken so far to demolish the illegal structures, they added.
They also said that the district administration and the Chattogram Port Authority are silently tolerating the killing of the river through which 92% of the country's total import and export is done and it is unacceptable.
Researcher on the Karnaphuli, Professor Idris Ali said that rivers are acknowledged as living beings by the law. The prime minister has given special instructions to save Karnaphuli. Still, the process of killing the river is on. The deputy commissioner, port chairman, CDA chairman, Chattogram city mayor and director of the environment department are directly responsible for this disturbing situation, he added.
Aliur Rahman, general secretary of the organisation said that the administration concerned cannot avoid the responsibility for failing to protect the Karnaphuli. You have to take responsibility for killing peoples and country's wealth, and living beings.
Professor Noman Siddiqui said that the district administration, port authority, and the city corporation earn thousands of crores of taka using the River Karnaphuli. But they remain indifferent to the question of protecting the river. If the administration wants, it is possible to reclaim the river within a week, he observed.
