The Khiru river in Bhaluka, Mymensingh, once full of fish, used for irrigation and for bathing, has been discoloured by industrial waste. Untreated liquid effluent from factories reaches it through canals and drains and is turning the river into a polluted reservoir, Samakal reported.
According to the Bangladesh Water Development Board, the Khiru is about 45km long. It rises from the Shitalakshya at Trimohoni, where Gafargaon, Bhaluka and Sreepur meet, flows west through Bhaluka and Mallikbari, becomes the Banar in Phulbaria and later flows again as the Khiru into the Sutia in Gafargaon. Industry spread in Bhaluka from the late 1990s; the upazila now has more than 300 factories, and government reports note that the waste of most reaches the Khiru through channels such as the Lauti canal.
The river once flowed strongly from June to September; now it has a moderate flow only from July to September and almost no water for the other nine months. Silt and encroachment on both banks are shrinking its depth and width. Farmers Harun Fakir, Lal Mia and Rafiqul Islam of Kanthali village say the effect of the waste is worse in the dry season, when the water turns black or blue and smells. Local farmers say no fish survive when the water falls, and they have long complained that irrigating with it damages crops.
A Khiru river sub-project in 1988-92 re-excavated rivers and canals and built water-control structures. In 2023 about 24km from Paruldia in Rajoi union to the western edge of Mallikbari was re-dug, but the spoil was allegedly left on the banks and in places inside the river; the monsoon washed it back and the project achieved nothing.
Kamrul Hasan Pathan Kamal, member secretary of the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) Bhaluka committee, said they have campaigned for a decade to recover and dredge about 40 rivers and canals in the upazila, with promises but no action: 'If the Khiru lives, Bhaluka lives.' UNO Firoz Hossain said work is under way to restore flow and stop untreated discharge. Local MP Fakhar Uddin Ahammad Bachchu said the state minister for environment and forests recently visited and ordered a plan, and that mandatory effluent treatment plants (ETPs) are being enforced.
Source: Samakal
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