Let not kill our rivers!

A.S.M Riad Arif writes for DOT : 
Some years ago, The Old Brahmaputra was a mighty river that flows near Mymensingh of Bangladesh. But the situation is changing day by day. We, the people kill the river. The dumping of garbage into it is now a serious threat to the river. Same happened to the River Kapatkha at Jessore or Titas at Cumilla. It has been said that Bangladesh has at least 700 small or big rivers and its 160 million people depended on them for their living and transportation. But many of them are drying up because of pollution and encroachment. Many rivers have already died, and some have seen their water flow reduced considerably all across the country.
The people of this region maintain a strong bonding with the river from century to century. Our tradition, custom, civilization or the livelihood largely depends on rivers. Rivers are extremely in danger all across the country. The illegal encroachment is going unabated choking the rivers in Bangladesh. According to statistics More than 150 rivers lost their width for various reasons.
The River has a great impact on the Everyday of people of Bangladesh. The river makes its land fertile, fruitful, and Evergreen.The River has a deep connection with the history and civilization of that region. Only because of the river civilization are flourished very fast in this reason. We got the name of river Ganga from writings of great Greek traveler Megasthenes. He described the Kingdom ‘ Gangaridai’ in his book ‘India as an ancient kingdom, which existed around 300 BC in Bengal. He described it as Gandaridai. Therefore, River is the identity of this area. People largely depend on the river for their transport, water supply, livelihood, and others.
Traditionally River is considered as ” Mother’. It is also described at literature and Songs. Who did not hear the melody of Bhupen Hazarika’s ‘Padma aamar maa, Ganga aamar maa’. In 1971 During the liberation war, People were getting together and  fought for their country with the slogan ‘ Padma ,meghna ,Jamuna/ Tomar aamar Thikina’. Bangla Literature is highly influenced by River. Padma Nodir Majhi by Manik Bandopadhyay Adwaita Mallabarman’s Titas ekti nodir Nam, Gonga by Samaresh Basu Gohin Gang of Sadhan Chattopadhyay or Jolputtro by Harishankar Jalada is the great literary work based on river and fisherman’s life.
Aren’t we losing our nest now? We have at least 24 thousands inland waterway which was the main mode of our transportation. But now it is very limited.
But why we are killing our rivers and who is the leader of this genocide? It’s the high time to find this. One of the most polluted rivers in Bangladesh is Buriganga that flows over Dhaka. We kill the river by dumping of industrial waste. Same happens to Shitalakhya, Turag, and Balu, the three more major rivers near Dhaka. These four rivers have to receive 1.5 million cubic meters of wastewater every day from 7,000 industrial units in surrounding areas, World Bank data says.
Some of the most valuable erosion-prone rivers in Bangladesh are the Ganges, Teesta, Brahmaputra Manu, Khowai, Karnaphuli, Someswari. The flows of most of the rivers have been interrupted with dams and barrages by neighbor state India. Farakka Dams at river Teesta is now the death trap for North Bengal. The trans-boundary Rivers of Bangladesh passing through India are largely confined within geographic boundaries. Hundred years back, the condition of River Tames was as awful as the state of the Buriganga today. In any case, through the appropriate implementation of the law, it was conceivable to clean the effluents and convey the streams to the ordinary condition. Why not we? If the rivers will be polluted, the situation will be unbearable in the near future. We must save our river for culture, nature, and livelihood. Our river diplomacy must be improved and Government should continue negotiation with its neighbor countries.
The Writer is graduated from South Asian University, New Delhi under SAARC Silber jubilee Scholarship. Can be reached through riad.arif1952@gmail.com