Pure sewage. Black and stinky. Nostrils stings in the strong stench. That is what Buriganga is on both ways from Bossila. As our boat slowly wafts through the black liquid, which many still call the river, we had to cover up our noses. With every stroke of the oar, the stench increased. A dead river -- that is what comes to one's mind at the state of the Buriganga. And sterile. No living beings -- not even a water spider could be seen.

This is what the Buriganga, which once attracted the Mughals to choose Dhaka as their capital, is rendered today by mindless dumping of industrial and human waste.

According to a joint survey by the Department of Environment (DoE) and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), more than 7,000 factories are located along the river and canals in Dhaka.

About 500 tanneries including 200 large units in Hazaribagh are discharging 4.75 million liters of a variety of extremely toxic wastes into the river. On top of it 95 metric tones of solid and hazardous wastes including trimmings of finished leather, shaving dusts, hair, fleshing, trimming of raw hides and skins are also dumped in the area's open drains every year. These eventually find their way to the Buriganga. In Hazaribagh and Rayer Bazar areas, experts fear the underground water table has also got polluted.

And how does life go in the midst of all this filth and pollution?

Romena Khatun, a housewife of Bassila said, "In the past we used Buriganga's polluted black water. But that led to skin diseases. Then we have set up a water pump 300 feet into the soil. Now we are getting fresh water. But in the winter water often gets polluted."

Abul Hossain, also a resident of Bassila near the Buriganga, said: "The water of the Buriganga is so polluted that we can't use it even in the winter. We can use the river's water only in the rainy season. So we have to buy water by paying a monthly Tk 100 to the water traders."

Not only the residents but also the tannery works are facing a precarious and unknown future because of the pollution.

According to a survey by the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD), around 90 percent of the tannery workers are suffering from at least one or other of the pollution related illnesses.

The SEHD report says 58 percent of the tannery workers suffer from gastrointestinal diseases, 31 percent from dermatological diseases, 12 percent from hypertension and 19 percent from jaundice.

Aminul Hossain, a 35-year-old tannery worker suffering from severe skin diseases and other complications, has lost confidence in modern medicines.

"Medicines do not work on me anymore. I suffer from skin diseases, allergy and chest pain, but my problems automatically go away when I don't work," he said.

According to the Environment Conservation Rule 1997, every industry should have Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP). Otherwise they would not get environmental clearance from the DoE. For an industry to obtain electricity and gas connections to their premises the environmental clearance is mandatory.

A very few factories have the ETP but most of the industries are running without any regard for the environment.

The DoE official however said that they are planning to send the offending industries two notices to comply with the existing laws very soon. "If they do not abide by the laws then we will disconnect the utility services. This step is under process," said the official.

"The government is yet to adopt any firm policy to reduce pollution arising from tanneries, pharmaceuticals, chemical and dying factories that are releasing highly toxic untreated wastes everyday," said Abu Naser Khan, chairman of Paribesh Bachao Andolon (PABA).

Source: The Daily Star