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For free flow

For free flow the Bangladesh Cabinet is to decide on a crucial draft bill to conserve the country's rivers, canals, other waterbodies and floodplains from encroachment, ensure better drainage of storm water from cities through natural outlets and provide for safe conveyance of floodwater through rivers. The bill will subsequently be presented in parliament for being enacted into a law. The legislation has been initiated in the backdrop of the severe drainage congestion that exacerbated the severity of floods in 2004. The congestion in Dhaka city was mainly due to illegal occupation of at least 36 of the 42 canals, obstructing the normal flow of storm water. The flooding also drew the government's attention to encroachment on riverbeds. One third (sometimes, as in 2004, two-third) of Bangladesh's land area is flooded in the rainy season.

According to a senior official of the ministry of water resources, most encroachments are either on khas (government-owned) lands under district administrations or those under government-bodies like the Water Development Board (wdb) and the Inland Water Transport Authority. City corporations, municipalities and water supply and sewerage authorities in urban areas also face the problem.

The proposed legislation aims to recover waterbodies and flood plains from the most recent encroachments, and prevent new encroachments. Explaining, the official says it is almost impossible to evict real estate developers from the flood plains around the metropolis that they have sold to the public. Also, buildings that have been constructed after filling up canals cannot be demolished. But the partially encroached canals can be recovered and those yet untouched protected. The draft bill proposes rigorous penal provisions comprising up to five years imprisonment and a penalty of up to us $ 3,088 or both.

A senior wdb official points out that it is also imperative to stop the unplanned development of private lands on riverbanks (there are 230 rivers in Bangladesh). The banks and canals should allow water to flow when rivers are in spate. Thus, while cultivation may be allowed on them, houses or other structures should be forbidden.

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