Karatoa: How a river is killed

A river is a treasure, says 66-year-old Zahurul Islam, imam of the local mosque in Khulsi in Gaibandha, standing near a culvert made with bamboo.

Beneath the arched culvert is a shallow furrow – now dry but once it was the riverbed of the mighty Karatoa. Nowadays, some water flows here during the monsoon. But most of the time it stays dry.

"Even when I was 25 I saw a youthful Karatoa. The overflowing waves of the Karatoa would hit the surrounding villages during the monsoon. The river was abundant with fishes," says Zahurul.

"Had we understood how the river benefits people, we would not have allowed the Karatoa to be destroyed. The river died gradually after a sluice gate was built. Now people have to buy water to irrigate their lands. Fishes are no longer available in the river," the Imam laments.

The Karatoa that once was cruised by ships and big trawlers has now become unnavigable for even canoes. With the passing of time, the once free-flowing river has turned into a dead canal. In the dry season, the village people cross it on foot, and in the rainy season with bamboo-made small culverts.

The scene is from Khulsi area of Gobindaganj in Gaibandha. The River Karatoa enters Bogura through this area.

The story of the River Karatoa's decline was hastened by the construction of a sluice gate by the Water Development Board in this area in the 1980s.

The disruption of water flow caused a domino effect of encroachment and pollution, and soon, the river became a waste dump.

The 60km stretch from Khulsi in Gobindaganj to Dublagari in Shajahanpur upazila of Bogura has been particularly affected, with influential people building various structures by occupying the river. Even public and private institutions are guilty of this encroachment.

The beginning of the decline

The Karatoa is one of the 54 trans-boundary rivers shared by Bangladesh and India. This historical river originates in the foothills of the Himalayas in India. Pundranagar was built along the Karatoa 2,500 years ago. Thousands of people in the northern region of the country had long made their livelihoods centring this river.

Researchers suggest that the River Karatoa's decline began around 200 years ago after a major flood. 

The severe erosion that occurred in Gobindaganj led to a new flow towards Katakhali, and Karatoa got divided into two parts. A stream went through Katakhali and joined the River Bangalee, and the other was the main stream of Karatoa. 

The water flow of the river got reduced by half due to bifurcation, and as the water flow decreased, the bottom of the original Karatoa started to get filled with silt.

In such a situation, as the main stream of Karatoa could not take the pressure of flowing water during monsoons, the erosion rampaged in different areas. 

Later, the Water Development Board constructed a sluice gate in Khulsi to control water flow. 

Since then, the funeral procession of the main stream of Karatoa started, and the subsequent story is all about grabbing and destroying the Karatoa.

HC order unheeded

Despite the High Court's order in 2015 to prevent grabbing and polluting the River Karatoa, the directive has not been implemented yet. Taking advantage of the inaction of the local administration, unscrupulous people have grabbed fresh areas on the river. From Gobindaganj to Shibganj in Bogura, the dead canal of Karatoa is being used by the locals as a garbage dump.

Various structures can be seen in the Karatoa after crossing Shibganj and coming to Bogura Sadar. 

According to data analysis by river analysts, researchers, and environmental scientists, the death of 121km of Karatoa in Bogura has been caused by various reasons, but encroachment and pollution have been mentioned as the main reasons in government reports.

Encroachment most severe in Bogura

Although this river has been encroached upon in various districts of the north, the severity is enormous in Bogura. 

Government reports made in 2018 and 2019 have mentioned the names of 30-36 individuals or organisations being involved in Karatoa encroachment and pollution in Bogura district. Based on those reports, the district administration also conducted operations.

After that, the National River Commission in 2019 conducted a field-level inspection of Karatoa, Jamuna, and Bangalee rivers in Bogura. After the inspection, a report was filed that year holding an NGO named Thengamara Mohila Sabuj Sangha (TMSS) and a private company named Building Construction Limited (BCL), among others, responsible for encroaching and polluting the Karatoa.

Although many of the listed occupiers were evicted, TMSS and BCL remained untouched. These two grabbers put the final nail in Kartoa's coffin.

Road through the river 

After building an eco-park – for which, a survey of the district administration reveals, the TMSS has grabbed at least five acres of land of the River Karatoa – a few years ago, the NGO is now building a road through the river at the Bala Kaigari Eidgah Maidan area along the eco park.  

On a field-level visit on 22 February, TBS learned that around 15 labourers had been engaged in earth-filling work for several days to build the road. Garbage was being continuously dumped on the river bed by trucks every day.

Sadek Ali (55), a resident of the area, was standing next to the Eidgah and watching the road construction in the river.

He said, "This river has been destroyed before our eyes by waste dumping and encroachment. The river was swallowed up in the name of park construction. Now a road is being built on the river."

Sadek alleged that TMSS founder Hosne-Ara Begum has been grabbing the River Karatoa in connivance with influential government officials, so, people do not dare to protest her illegal activities.

On 18 March, Bogura Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Firoza Parveen conducted a mobile court in the area but the TMSS managed to avoid stern punishment by signing a bond.

TMSS Executive Director Hosne-Ara Begum, however, claimed that the land which the NGO was filling belonged to her organisation and that they had availed of permission from the Rajshahi divisional director of the Department of Environment to fill the lands to bring them under cultivation.

About her NGO being on the list of grabbers, she said the list was dubious and devoid of reality.  

She also mentioned that they had applied to the authorities concerned to remove TMSS from the list of Karatoa grabbers and expressed hope that the issue would be settled soon.

On the other hand, Nazmul Hossain, executive engineer of Bougra Water Development Board said that nobody can obstruct the flow of a river by building dams or other obstructions in the river in any way even if they have their own land there.

Farmland destroyed

Meanwhile, farmland on the southern side of the river has been destroyed due to illegal sand extraction by installing dredger machines. 

Mobile courts conducted drives in 2021 against the illegal extraction of sand from the river in the TMSS eco park area and seized four dredger machines along with other equipment but none could be arrested in that connection.

Interestingly, infrastructures are being constructed by occupying the river on the east side of the DC office itself. The river is also being grabbed in the name of building religious establishments.

Pollution goes unabated

Like that of illegal grabbing, the story of Karatoa pollution also is very telling. It appears that competition is going on among people to pollute the Karatoa. 

Garbages from homes, markets, public and private offices, courts, and municipalities are being dumped directly into the river. Even the sewage lines and drains are connected to the river. Along with that, toxic medical waste is being dumped in the river. 

And the result is easily perceivable. Citing research, the Department of Environment says that the survival of aquatic animals in the toxic water of Karatoa is difficult except for three months of monsoon.

A waste dump!

Many people of Bogura's Fateh Ali and Raja Bazar areas directly throw their household waste into the River Karatoa. The pollution is continuously increasing especially due to the slaughtering of cows and goats and dumping their waste in the river. 

When asked, Parimal Prasad Raj, general secretary of Raja Bazar traders association, said Bogura is a very big city and a large amount of waste and garbage accumulates in the markets here every day, but there is no dustbin from the municipality to dispose of these. As a result, many people are throwing waste into the river. 

He, however, stressed raising awareness about the issue.

Bogra District Jail stands along the Karatoa. The waste of the jail is directly dumped into the river through drains. 

Asked about this, Jail Super Anwar Hossain said the garbage was not only of the jail but of the whole city. An absence of alternative waste management has created such a crisis, he observed. 

Rezaul Karim Badsha, Mayor of Bogura municipality, also admitted the issue of the Karatoa pollution. He said that signboards have been hung in many areas of the city to prevent pollution. 

A Tk300 crore project was initiated to decontaminate the polluted Karatoa water, but it could not be implemented, said the mayor. 

Badsha urged the government to take strong action to save Karatoa from encroachment and pollution.

Asked, Bogura DC Saiful Islam vowed action against river encroaches, saying they have taken zero tolerance on river encroachment and pollution.