Mahadev Rajbangshi (60) used to fish throughout the year in Bangshi river and used to make his living by selling fish. However, now he only gets to fish for two months during the entire year. The reason is the dense pollution of the river by industrial liquid waste. Thousands of fishermen in Savar are passing days in hardship, while the majority of them have already left their hereditary profession.
According to Savar Upazila Fisheries Office, there are more than 2,000 fishermen in Savar. There are three rivers and 18 government canals in the upazila, as per the information acquired from the UNO’s office.
During a recent visit to Bangshi, Turag and Dhaleshwari rivers and many of the canals in Savar, this correspondent found none of them free from pollution. Senior Fisheries Officer Kamrul Islam Sarkar also expressed concern over the pollution.
“During my visits, I found no difference between river water and sewer water. No fish, as well as aquatic creatures, can survive in such polluted water. Two dolphins died and floated on the Turag two months ago. We suspect that they died in the contaminated water,” said Kamrul. “To reduce pollution, the authorities concerned, including the Department of Environment (DoE) must be vocal,” he added.
Contacted, Zahirul Islam Talukder, Dhaka district deputy director of DoE, said they regularly inspect the factories and often impose fines on them for polluting the rivers and the canals. Asked why the pollution continues despite regular monitoring, he said, “Apart from the tannery industry, there are about 120 dyeing factories and 60 washing factories in Savar. They are open 24 hours a day, while we can only monitor them for eight hours. We have a huge human resources crisis.”
“Factory authorities run CETP (Common Effluent Treatment Plants) during our visit and stop running them afterwards, which leads to the pollution. We are working on this issue as well,” he added.