Century-old dighi being filled up
Feni University, a privately owned institution in the district’s Sadar upazila, has been filling up a century-old waterbody disregarding several notices from Department of Environment.
The 13-acre waterbody, known as Mohammad Ali Dighi, is located near Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Sundarpur area of the upazila.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Visiting the area on Tuesday, this correspondent found that at least six acres of the waterbody has already been filled with Geo bags and timber poles.
The university, operated by a board of trustees, has Alauddin Ahmed Chowdhury Nasim, former protocol officer to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as the president of the trustee board and Nizam Uddin Hazari, MP of Feni-2 constituency, as a trustee board member.
According to locals, the influential Awami League leaders backed the university to fill up the British-era waterbody. Their act would cause trouble to irrigation and everyday chores as Mohammad Ali Dighi is a major source of water in the area, alleged locals.
Contacted, Alauddin Ahmed Chowdhury Nasim said, “That was an abandoned pond. We are reinvigorating it.
A side of the waterbody is being filled for establishment of the university campus. Another side of the waterbody will be beautified.”
The Daily Star, however, could not reach MP Nizam Uddin Hazari after repeated attempts over phone.
Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act-1995 (amended), states the act of filling up waterbodies without permission from the relevant authorities would be treated as punishable offence.
The law further states that any act that brings change to a waterbody would not be allowed by any means.
Asked, Mohammad Moazzom Hossain, director at the Department of Environment (DoE) in Chattogram, told The Daily Star that they earlier served two notices to the university authorities in 2016 and 2017.
In response to the notices, the university authorities said they were just working to beatify the waterbody, he added.
In the third notice, which has been served recently, DoE asked the university authorities to appear in a hearing at DoE Court on Wednesday.
“Our district office investigated the case. If they [university authorities] fail to come up with logical ground, we will take action as per law,” the DoE official said.
Contacted, acting vice-chancellor of Feni University Dr Taibul Hoque said they would clarify their position in the hearing.
Feni University currently runs its academic activities on a temporary campus and recently promised to shift to its permanent campus, which is situated along the waterbody, within a month.
The university got approval from University Grants Commission in 2012 and started its academic operation in 2013. Now it has around 1,000 students, 60 teachers and three faculties.
Meanwhile, Sharif Jamil, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, told The Daily Star that the country was facing acute ground water shortage as water bodies and wetlands got dried or filled up.
He mentioned that filling up Mohammed Ali Dighi could be disastrous as the Feni river was also in crisis of water because of various man-made hazards.
“If lawmakers do not abide by the law they formulate, it sets a bad example for mass people. The authorities must stop filling up the waterbody and high ups of the government in it if necessary,” he added.