CHITTAGONG, Aug 29: Once the mighty river Karnaphuli is now dying gradually by pollution, silt deposition and encroachment of its banks by land grabbers. It has now turned into a stream due to the negligence of the people as well as the authorities concerned.
Unchecked contamination, encroachment and shipping pollution are engulfing Karnaphuli River, the lifeline of the nation's major port, threatening its very existence.
Like many rivers in the country, Karnaphuli is heavily polluted by agricultural runoff. Reducing the amount of oxygen available and harming aquatic life in the river.
The major environmental concern is lack of containment facilities to prevent pollutants from entering the water, ground and air in addition to the direct exposure of workers.
According to a survey conducted by the Bangladesh Paribesh Forum in July last, the width of the Karnaphuli has been decreasing day by day.
According to the survey, the width of the river near Shah Amanat Bridge was 830 metres. But in July the width was found to have been reduced to 350 metres.
In another site at Feeringhee Bazar the width was 500 metres which was 900 metres earlier. The illegal encroachment of banks and chars was growing with the rise in land prices. Illegal structures are going up every day on the hundreds of acres of land of Haldar Char, Nazir Char, Gurar Char, Hamid Char and Bakalia Char. A large number of giant installations like Cement factories, Fertilizer industries, Ship Building yards have been set up on the bank of the river. Most of the installations have occupied the bank of the river. So, the river is becoming narrower and shallower with navigability rapidly decreasing.
The Chattogram Port authority (CPA), the owner of the river, had conducted several surveys in the Karnaphuli that depicted a dangerous signal for the navigational channel of the port. The survey found that the silt in the upstream would certainly hamper the operational activities of the Chattogram Port severely. So it has now become inevitable for the CPA to maintain a continuous dredging of the areas to keep the port navigable. Otherwise, experts opined, the main installations of the port would be affected badly.
With the construction of the Shah Amanat Bridge, the CPA had conducted a survey of the river Karnaphuli by an expert team of BUET in 2001. The survey report revealed that the reason for silting of the Karnaphuli River was the construction of Shah Amanat Bridge.
The silt in the river Karnaphuli extending from Sadarghat to Shah Amanat Bridge has now become a threat to the navigational channel of the country's principal seaport, Chattogram.
According to CPA sources, the 2.5-km long navigational channel from Sadarghat to Shah Amanat Bridge has silted up severely due to Shah Amanat Bridge constructed at the 5.5 km upstream of the main installations of the Chattogram Port.
The experts opined that the river-bed of the Karnaphuli has been filled up with ploythene, fishing nets, tyre and tubes, animal skin, leather and other wastes. The river-bed has been filled up more than two metres with such types of garbage and wastage of the port city that have been drained down through 57 canals of the city including Chaktai Khal.
