Enact NRCC law, empower river commission

It is most unfortunate that the National River Conservation Commission (NRCC) Act has still not been enacted, although the draft law was prepared around two years ago. While the parliament has passed many bills during these two years, this draft law remains immobilised. We would like to ask the government why. Though we are all aware of the need to enact the law to make the NRCC a stronger and independent entity capable of protecting our rivers, the issue does not seem to get the importance it deserves from our lawmakers as well as the river governing bodies—the ministries dealing with the rivers.

The issue of our lawmakers' apathy in enacting the new law was recently raised by Mujibor Rahman Hawlader, former chairman of the NRCC. He made a shocking revelation that the ministries dealing with the rivers did not even want the commission to be formed in the first place. He also said that it was the river activists and the media who created public opinion in favour of forming a commission, and that it was formed finally at the intervention of the High Court.

We wonder why the ministries concerned would be against a commission that has been declared the legal guardian of the rivers by the High Court in a landmark judgment. Is it because, oftentimes, it is the government officials or people close to the government who are the real river encroachers? We think the ministries concerned must clarify their positions regarding this.

In 2019, the High Court gave a 17-point directive to protect our rivers, declaring river-grabbing and polluting criminal offences and suggesting stricter punishment for the grabbers and polluters. The court at that time ordered the government to empower the NRCC and amend the NRCC law to incorporate stringent provisions for imprisonment and hefty fines for the offences made against the rivers.

Following the court order, the NRCC prepared the draft National River Conservation Commission Act, 2020, incorporating provisions to address the increasing concerns of river encroachment and pollution. This draft act is supposed to replace the National River Conservation Commission Act, 2013, which does not give the commission any power to take action against the offenders. The commission can just make recommendations under the existing law. That is why we need the new legislation.

We think the government should act promptly to enact the new NRCC law if it is really sincere about saving our rivers. Any delay in passing the legislation will only make the situation of our rivers worse, as one by one, all our rivers are facing slow deaths due to unabated grabbing and pollution.