Encroachers turn Bamondanga River into a narrow canal
Structures like these on the remaining part of the once mighty Bamondanga River flowing by Nilphamari town bear testimony to a section of people's mindless occupation of the land of the natural watercourse, reducing it to a narrow canal with scanty flow. Photo: STAR
Once mighty 'Bamon-danga' river flowing by Nilphamari town now appears like a narrow canal as encroachers filled up most of its bed to construct buildings for business and residential purposes. Amid fear of disappearance of the last signs of the watercourse and massive waterlogging due to hindrance to flow of rain and drainage water, local municipality authorities recently intervened and stopped construction of buildings on the river land. According to 'Nilphamarir Itihas' (history of Nilphamari) written by local historian Nasiruddin Ahmed, the town of Nilphamari developed centring famous 'Sakha Macha' bazaar situated on the Bamondanga River, a branch of Jamuneswari River. "During my boyhood, I saw strong current in the river. Many people caught fish in the river. Now the river is hardly recognisable as constructions have filled up its bed," said local resident Lokman Hossain, 75, also a freedom fighter. To build up a good drainage system in the town, the municipality authorities took steps to save the river from the encroachers in 2007, said Md Kibria, panel mayor of Nilphamari municipality. “To our wonder, we noticed that the encroachers are showing ownership documents for the lands that are part of the river. We also found that the land record of 1940 gives no indication of the river and its existence was not shown in the map of the concerned mouja. The encroachers in collaboration with a section of dishonest land officials recorded their names as owners of the river land,” he said. Local sources said to avoid any complexity, the municipal authority arranged a discussion with the encroachers. It was decided that municipal authority would dig and use only 40 feet width in the river channel for passage of drain water. The river thus took the shape of a canal, informed locals. Visiting the river on Wednesday, this correspondent found that the encroachers are engaged in a sort of competition to occupy even the 'settled' 40-foot-wide channel. It was also seen that a big automatic rice mill has been built on the river land. Waste materials and ashes are regularly thrown into the channel, making it almost filled. In Baroipara area of the municipality, men of one Abdul Kuddus Choudhury recently started filling the river and constructing concrete pillars to build a big building. Following complaints from local people, the municipality authorities stopped the construction. When contacted, Abdul Kuddus Choudhury said, "It is not a river at all. If it were a river, its land would be recorded as 'khas' land. I have genuine land documents. I am making concrete pillars for my boundary wall." "The work is temporarily stopped now as the municipality chairman gave objection. It is a canal and I have told the municipality authorities that I shall give some of my land for the canal,” he said. Nilphamari municipality Mayor Dewan Kamal Ahmed said, "We will not allow further encroachment on the river. Even 25-30 years ago, I saw the river flowing with strong current. There are 7-8 concrete bridges over it in this municipality area. But for mysterious reasons, there is no indication of this river in official land records. It will be a long legal battle if we proceed to recover it."
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