PM asks for closure of shrimp farms to reopen Ghasiakhali Channel

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked for shutting down shrimp culture farms to reopen the Ghashiakhali Channel, once used as India-Bangladesh water protocol route and maritime communication route for the country's southern region.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 15 Dec 2014, 10:33 AM
Updated : 15 Dec 2014, 01:51 PM

The channel was closed nearly three years ago after Mongla's Nala River and Rampal's Kumar River filled up.

Since then BIWTA has been using the Shela River inside the Sundarbans as an alternate route.

The shrimp culture farms are located at the entrance to that channel.

The prime minister on Monday asked several officials through video-conference to monitor everything to ensure proper clean-up of the oil spill and prevent any more damage.

The officials who the prime minister spoke to included the deputy commissioners of Gopalganj and Jessore and divisional commissioners of Dhaka and Khulna.

This was the first time she gave any direct orders since tanker 'OT Southern Star 7' carrying 357,664 litres of furnace oil sank in the Shela River on Dec 9.

Environmentalists fear the oil that spilled around a stretch of 80 square kilometres of rivers and canals will wreak havoc on the ecology of the world's largest mangrove forest.

The local administration has been using manual labour and taking help from the locals for the last three days to mop up the oil from the rivers and canals with pots, pans and sacks.

The authorities first planned to use oil dispersant, but later backtracked as they were unsure what effects the chemical would have on the forest, a world heritage site.

The prime minister on Monday praised the locals and thanked them for their contribution.

She also emphasised that such incident should not be allowed to happen in future.

“The Ghashiakhali Channel was not dredged for a long time. That’s why it got sealed,” Hasina said criticising the previous BNP government for stopping the works of Mongla port.

She said entrances to the channel’s branch canals were closed with shrimp culture farms. “These farms will have to be shut down.”

Since BIWTA started using Shela River as an alternate route three years ago, environmentalists had many times demanded closure of this waterway as it had posed great risks of an ecological disaster.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests had closed the river route temporarily after the accident. On Sunday, it also recommended shutting the Shela River route permanently.

But Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan expressed concern that the move would make Mongla Port ineffective and declared that the option was not being considered.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “I have ordered the shipping ministry to reopen the Ghashiakhali Channel. The prawn culture farms will have to be moved so the canals won’t close up again.”