Court issues order to stop Meghna, Menikhali river grab

The High Court has issued a status quo order on the construction work on the Meghna and Menikhali rivers in Narayanganj.

Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Ahmed Sohel issued the orders, along with a rule, after the hearing of two petitions on Sunday.

Advocate Manzil Morshed represented the petitioners, while Deputy Attorney General Mokhlesur Rahman Khokon represented the state.

After the hearing, Morshed told the media that the court had issued a status quo order and a rule on the occupation of the rivers, landfilling and construction work on the sites. It also ordered the Narayanganj district administration to form a committee on the matter.

The committee is to survey the area and note the names and addresses of the occupiers in a report to be submitted within 30 days.

The rule asked why the local administration’s inactivity should not be declared illegal and why all the filling and construction work should not be removed.

It also asked why the rivers should not be conserved under the CS-RS record.

Twelve parties, including the environment and water resources secretary, the director general of the Environment Department, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Association (BIWTA) chairman, the Narayanganj deputy commissioner, superintendent of police, UNOs, the OCs of the relevant police forces and Sonargaon land officials have been instructed to respond to the rule within four weeks.

According to the petitions, the Environmental Preservation Act 1995 and the Water Body Preservation Act 2000 state that it is completely illegal to occupy or fill any rivers.

But those laws have been ignored in constructing the ‘Aman Economic Zone’ on the Meghna River in Narayanganj and the filling and illegal construction on the Menikhali River by influential locals.

River occupation has gone unchecked despite clear laws on the matter due to the ineffectiveness of the local administrations.

The Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh organisation filed two petitions with the High Court on Sept 9 after media reports on the issue