Stop risking Sundarbans

The Sundarbans suffered another disaster on Saturday when a vessel carrying 775 tonnes of coal sank in the Passur River. This is the fourth time a cargo of coal sank in the mangrove forest in the last three years and is potentially hazardous for the wellbeing of the Sundarbans as coal can reduce the ph (potential hydrogen) of water and increase its acidity, according to experts.

Over the last few years, we have also seen instances of oil tankers capsize in and around the Sundarbans which, too, is extremely harmful for the ecological diversity of the mangrove forest. It seems, however, that we are yet to take the proper lessons from those unfortunate events.

Amidst all this, what could potentially be a major cause for concern is that the government has approved 190 industries to be set up within 10km of the Sundarbans, despite repeated warnings from experts. The river traffic that we see now is possibly a fraction of what it is soon to be, once those factories are established. Given the quality of vessels that ply the rivers of the Sundarbans, and the recklessness of crew as evident from past events, what will happen once the river traffic picks up?

What all this is doing, is actually risking the existence of Sundarbans and its already endangered biodiversity. The government should take lessons from this as to what might happen and reconsider the projects it has approved near the Sundarbans in the interest of safeguarding the mangrove forest, which is also essentially the first line of defence in the coastal regions against various forms of natural disasters.