The government has no plan to narrow the Jamuna River. The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has assured the High Court that no project to narrow the river has been undertaken and will not be undertaken.
After knowing the government’s stance on the issue, the High Court has rejected the writ petition filed challenging the decision of the government body concerned.
The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Muhammad MahbubUl Islam rejected the writ petition on Monday (June 12).
Advocate ManzillMurshid, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, argued for the writ petition in the High Court, while Advocate Arobinda Kumar Roy, lawyer for the Bangladesh Water Development Board, took part in the hearing on behalf of the BWDB and Assistant Attorney Generals AbulKalam Khan Dawood and TaufiqSajwarPartha represented the state.
Citing documents on the proposal during the hearing of the writ petition, Advocate Arobinda Kumar Roy told the High Court that no project would be implemented over narrowing Jamuna River.
According to the lawyer, the ‘Jamuna River Sustainable Management Project-1’ has been initiated after consultation with the prime minister’s economic affairs advisor and World Bank officials.
He said the project is in the initial stage and dredging and embankment building works were yet to be approved.
The HC bench on May 28 ordered the Bangladesh Water Development Board to submit the relevant documents regarding the proposal.
Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh submitted the petition based on a report published in a national daily.
According to the report, the BWDB undertook the project to reduce the width of the Jamuna River.
In the writ petition, the organisation sought an HC order to take legal action against the officials involved in making the proposal for narrowing the river for committing misconduct under the Government Service Act.
Following the writ petition, the High Court summoned all documents related to the Jamuna River narrowing project. The authorities of the Bangladesh Water Development Board had been asked to submit the documents to the court within 10 days.
On March 12 this year, a Bangla daily published the report titled ‘A plan for narrowing Jamuna River’.
According to the published report, the Bangladesh Water Development Board has prepared a project proposal of Tk 11.10 billion to reduce the width of the Jamuna River to 6.5 kilometres from 15 kilometres.
The Ministry of Water Resources sent the proposed project titled ‘Sustainable Infrastructure for Jamuna River Bank Protection and Risk Mitigation’ to the Planning Commission.
