Once mighty river now a drain

The Bamondanga river flowing through Nilphamari municipality has turned into a drain as grabbers continue filling it to construct business centres, industrial units, homesteads and so on.

The municipality authorities made efforts to recover the grabbed river but they failed to bring any result.

 According to 'Nilphamarir Itihas', a book on the history of the district penned by local historian Nasiruddin, it is learnt that famous ancient market 'Sakha macha haat' was situated beside the river and Nilphamari town gradually developed around it (haat).

“During my childhood, I saw the river had strong current. At present, there are seven to eight concrete bridges on its course within the municipality area,” said Joinal Abedin, local zila parishad chairman.

Visiting the river at Polashbari, Dogachhi, Baroipara, Sarkarpara, Sabujpara, Itakhola and Kanial Khata points on Saturday, this correspondent found grabbers filling the riverbed to build concrete structures.

In Sarkarpara area beside Nilphamari-Ramganj road, a businessman built an automatic rice mill by filling up the riverbed, leaving a narrow channel for water passage having 10 feet width.

In Sabujpara area, owners of sweetmeat factories, set up by filling the river, are discharging waste in the river.

Same situation is seen in other areas as sewerage lines of homesteads connected with the river and unhygienic latrines are set on it, making the river more polluted.

As a result, the river can't discharge flood water during rainy season and also becomes fishless, though a good number of people once managed their livelihood by catching fish.

Ginger trader Habibullah Mia of Dhakaiyapara village, who built a homestead on the occupied river, claimed that he has genuine land documents.

Mayor of Nilphamari municipality Dewan Kamal Ahmed said he is trying his best to recover the river from the grabbers for last ten years as it is a lifeline of people.

“To our surprise, when we asked alleged grabbers to vacate the riverbed, they showed us ownership documents,” he said.

They have formed citizens' committee to start legal battle to recover the river, the mayor said.