The Meghna at Bhairab in Kishoreganj, gateway to the haor region, is growing steadily more polluted. Unplanned urban growth, low awareness and no proper waste management mean rubbish, plastic and non-biodegradable waste end up in the river, degrading the water and threatening aquatic life and biodiversity, Dainik Bangla reports.
Waste has grown with the population of this small, crowded town, but no modern waste system has followed. Rubbish is heaped along the riverbank and in places municipal waste is dumped straight into the river. Plastic on the banks washes in with rain and current, and polluted water from unplanned sewerage drains into the Meghna too.
Resident Ehsanul Haque Pintu says Bhairab grew up around the river, yet a syndicate is filling in canals and wetlands connected to it for housing, blocking the flow. Water from the municipal sewer lines enters the river directly and disrupts aquatic life, he says.
School teacher Nazrul Islam Ripon says occasional clean-up drives are not enough; the river needs long-term planning, closer official monitoring and regular cleaning of the banks.
K.M. Mamunur Rashid, the municipal administrator and upazila nirbahi officer, says the municipality tries to collect rubbish regularly but, without its own dumping station, struggles with the volume. Many riverside residents and traders throw waste nearby; he says the municipality will work to raise awareness and step up monitoring.
Environmental campaigners call for planned waste management, a modern dumping station, better sewerage, an end to encroachment and pollution of the banks, and restored flow in canals and wetlands. Where the haor meets the Meghna, the pollution is not just a town problem but a question for the river's fish and the fishers who live on them.
Photo: Moheen Reeyad / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Dainik Bangla
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