High Court rebukes WASA chief over Buriganga pollution

The High Court has taken Dhaka WASA MD Taqsem A Khan to task for failing to take steps aimed at curbing pollution on the Buriganga river in line with the court's directives.

The court on Monday rebuked Taqsem for 'deliberate non-compliance' with the order and dilly-dallying by submitting different affidavits to seek time extensions.

It subsequently issued a warning and ordered him to submit a compliance report within a month.

The court will the next hearing on the matter on Oct 18.

Lawyer Manzil Morshed appeared on behalf of the writ petitioner Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) in court. The Environment Division was represented by lawyer Amatul Karim while Advocate Umme Salma stood for the WASA MD.

The HRPB filed the writ petition in 2010, seeking directions to the authorities to take effective measures to prevent water pollution in the Buriganga.

After the final hearing, the court delivered a verdict on June 1, 2011 along with a three-point directive.

These included immediate action to stop the dumping of waste in the Buriganga by shutting down all drains and sewerage lines connected to the Buriganga river within six months.

Dhaka WASA Managing Director Taqsem A Khan speaking at a roundtable organised by Unilever and UNDP at a Dhaka hotel on Thursday on the Sustainable Development Goal on water and sanitation. Photo: Abdullah Al Momin

The HRPB later filed a supplementary application on April 30, 2019 as the directives had not been fully implemented.

Taqsem appeared in court on March 4 and pledged to implement the directives, Manzil Morshed told bdnews24.com.

WASA subsequently submitted two reports to the court dated Aug 18 and Sept 7, but both were rejected due to the lack of progress in the implementation of the verdict and order.

"The court issued a warning against after another report was submitted on behalf of WASA MD at today's hearing," said Morshed.

Asked why the court did not accept WASA's latest report, Morshed said the court had twice given WASA a week to implement the directives after it submitted its two previous reports.

"The latest report states that they have disconnected the sewerage lines of four industries in Hazaribagh. But it said it couldn't cut off the lines in Shyampur due to floods in the area. They also said four of their officials were infected with COVID-19 without mentioning anything about their roles."

"We objected to this report and asked what they meant when they said four of their employees contracted the coronavirus. Besides, the floods have subsided in Shyampur. The court then refused to accept the report and gave a warning to the WASA MD.”