First the Buriganga and now Dhaleswari

After much stalling from all sides,the government got some 35 tanneries, out of 154, relocated from  Hazaribag to the tannery estate, newly constructed in Savar, by December. While the government stance was that the industrial estate had been fully developed, that was not the case unfortunately. The very good aspect of the industrial estate was the central effluent plant (CETP). The authorities have dragged their feet on the issue for years, and for years Dhaka residents have paid the price as the principal river feeding the city, the Buriganga, went on being polluted to the point that marine life became largely extinct. Pollution levels have reached critical levels and the toxicity of the water has risen so much that it can no longer be treated effectively by WASA.

In that setting, we were relieved when tanneries finally started relocating to Savar. But what do we see happening to the Dhaleswari river? A repetition of the Buriganga fiasco; environmental groups are up in arms and we fully endorse their stand. Untreated waste is being dumped into the river and it has begun to stink. How can this happen if the CETP is in operation fully? Who will monitor whether it is so? It is up to the government to make sure what has happened to the Buriganga does not happen to the Dhaleswari. We cannot sit back and shift a grave problem to another part of the country and unless we learn from our mistakes, this sort of manmade disaster will continue to recur.