What lies beneath

10 ft layer of polythene under Buriganga

Morshed Ali Khan

A ten-feet layer of discarded polythene bags, plastics, coconut shells, and heavy sludge created by millions of tons of biodegradable waste from kitchen markets now cover the bed of the river Buriganga.

The highest concentration of these deadly wastes have settled on the bed of the river near Sadarghat launch terminal in the capital, one of the busiest river ports in South-East Asia, according to Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) sources.

One of the main sources of this huge amount of polythene on the riverbed is Dhaka City Corporation's (DCC) conservancy department.

Along Shaheed Nagar, Kamrangir Char, Showari Ghat, Waiz Ghat, and Shyam Bazar -- DCC conservancy workers empty their bins of household rubbish into the river everyday. Household rubbish contains a large number of polythene bags, which are too dirty for the tokais (street urchins) to sort out for sales for recycling.

DCC conservancy department's second-in-command, Dewan Shah Alam, admitted that such irregularities are taking place along the river Buriganga, but added that most of the dumping is done by private household garbage collectors, not the DCC trucks.

"We have strict instructions for all our staff involved in garbage disposal, not to dump waste anywhere other that the designated site at Amin Bazar," Shah Alam said.

BIWTA sources said the situation in the river is almost out of their hand with limited resources and also due to a lack of proper directions. They said they do not have adequate manpower to stop the dumping of rubbish into the river, which takes place all along the flood protection embankment. There are instances when DCC conservancy workers 'signed deals' with river grabbers, and dumped truck loads of household rubbish into the river. Such dumping usually takes place so early in the morning that officials, who should be monitoring, are hardly awake let alone being on the spot.

"I can show you, between Mohammadpur and Postagola more than 50 sites where DCC is dumping rubbish," said a BIWTA official requesting anonymity.

On the slope of the flood protection embankment at Kamrangir Char, dozens of female workers can be regularly found washing and drying huge polythene sheets. They said they buy those sheets from business establishments in Nawabpur and Mitford areas, from garment factories, and from the tokais.

"After buying these dirty sheets we wash and dry them on the embankment and carefully pack them for reselling by weight to buyers, who pay us good prices. Why should we discard them into the river, recycling is our livelihood," said Moina Begum, when asked how so many polythene bags found their way to the riverbed.

Moina's co-worker Hafiza Khatun pointed her finger at a dumping site on the slope of the embankment, and said most of the small polythene in household rubbish piles end up into the river because those cannot be sorted out easily.

On one Friday afternoon, Sadarghat Launch Terminal area was a chaotic crossroad with thousands of passengers, coolies, traders, squatters, and beggars milling around. On the shore between the concrete terminal and the jetty -- human excreta, piles of coconut shells, polythene bags, and an array of rubbish were lying around.

A dozen launches were anchored at the jetty. Vendors selling coconuts, lychees, bombay-mix, puffed rice, bread, and fruits were using the river as a dumping ground.

"The accumulation of polythene and other wastes is so deep and solid that it might not be possible to remove the wastes with a dredger, we might have to do it manually," said an official of BIWTA.

The government banned production, marketing, and use of polythene bags in 2002. An offender under the law may be sentenced to ten years of imprisonment and fined Tk 10 lakh.

Daily Star