Drive to free Buriganga from illegal occupants slows down

The much publicized drive the government had launched on December 22 to free the Buriganga River from illegal occupants has slowed down.
Locals blamed the authorities’ lack of sincerity for the drive getting slowed down in the midway. 
The eviction drive was launched to restore navigability of the Buriganga, choked at different stretches mainly due to earth filling by land grabbers.
On December 22, shipping minister Shajahan Khan inaugurated the drive as the head of the national taskforce assigned to free all rivers from encroachments.
Barely two days later, the drive slowed down mysteriously.
Even Chandnighat, close to Swarighat, where the drive was started the river remains choked with the earth filling not removed. 
Dhaka South City Corporation led the joint drive, the other participants being the Dhaka district administration, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and Bangladesh Water Development Board.
DSCC superintendent engineer (Mechanical) Md Anisur Rahman told New Age that the eviction drive could not continue at the desired speed due to shortage of logistics and equipment. 
Locals were skeptical that joint drive would ever achieve its declared objective.
BIWTA has pressed only one excavator and the DSCC deployed four trucks for ‘the massive eviction drive. 
The drive, being half hearted, drew no protests from the grabbers, said a truck driver of the DSCC.
BIWTA chairman Commodore Mohammad Mozammel Haque admitted that the drive had slowed down due to the DSCC’s refusal to provide more trucks.
To divert public attention the DSCC announced that today it would launch another massive eviction drive to free the Buriganga embankments from Shikder Medical College crossing to the 2nd Buriganga Bridge. 

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