Stinky flows the river

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It is now hard to be recognised even as a canal, although the foundation stone of the bridge over it connecting the Hotapara and Pirujali roads still reads “Bridge on Labandaha River”.

The Labandaha has virtually no water now, as only pitch-dark stinky industrial waste is flowing through the river-turned narrow canal. Untreated liquid waste from washing and dyeing factories is the main source of the flowing ‘water’.

A vast wetland on both sides locally known as ‘Labandaha Sagar’ was once the main source of fish and rice. But all species of fish have disappeared and hardly one crop grows since the industries started discharging waste into it.

Residents of Pirujali, Monipur, Dugri, Bishia and Taltali villages in Gazipur near Hotapara allege untreated industry waste has totally changed the environment.

“We used to catch huge amount of fish during the monsoon from the wetland and cultivate two crops every year. But now only Boro grows there,” said Abdur Rahman, a farmer from Pirujali.

“When the black water enters the land, paddy plants grow well but harvest yield is very low,” he added.

Like Rahman, land of Neyamat Master, Shafiq Mandal and many others has been affected by industrial waste. However, the villagers seemed reluctant to talk about the problem.

“We have to live in this village. If we say something against the industrialists, it will be hard for us to live here,” said a villager asking not to be named.

Around Labandaha, which is about three to four kilometres off from Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway, many industrial units have mushroomed in the last 15 years, mostly during the BNP-Jamaat rule.

Industries of Givency groups, Mark Wash and Dyeing, Bengal Textiles, Elegant Washing, and Zihan Textile — all are discharging waste into the canal and in the farmland, the locals allege.

One Composite Industry situated just beside Mark Wash and Dyeing does not have a signboard. But the local people know it as an “industry of Tarique Zia and his friend Giausuddin Al Mamun” which is also contributing to the pollution.

“We all know that it is an industry belonging to Tarique Zia,” comments a villager.

Initially all those industries used to discharge the waste directly into the marshland. Now all the owners have jointly laid a concrete pipe underneath the ground to discharge the liquid.

“Now all the kala pani [dark water] from those industries go into the canal through the pipe,” said a villager requesting anonymity.

The villagers allege the waste has increased mosquito menace in the locality and most of the time the air is thick with chemical stink.

The untreated waste flows through the Labandaha around six kilometres in the cultivable land and ultimately falls into the Turag river near Tongi, the villagers say.

The military-backed caretaker government had earlier instructed the industrialists to install Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP), but most of them did not do that, say sources in the Department of Environment (DoE).

Though many of the industrialists have set up ETP they do not use those to save the cost, said an official from the DoE.

Asked about proper monitoring, the official said they don’t have enough manpower to monitor the polluters.

“The inspectors don’t have vehicles to go to the site. Most of the time they are taken to the inspection spot on vehicles provided by the industrialists,” he said, asking, “How can you expect they will submit report against those polluters?”

The DoE Dhaka Division has only two inspectors to monitor hundreds of industries in the 17 districts.

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