Dhaka, June 15 (UNB) – Green activists at a human chain programme on Friday demanded immediate recovery of the old channel of Buriganga River from illegal occupation to remove water logging in the old part of Dhaka City.

They said that despite the High Court order to protect water bodies, the land grabbers are filing up canals inside the area that fall within the protection embankment on both sides the Buriganga to raise illegal structures which triggers acute water logging in the old part of Dhaka.

Paribesh Bachao Andolan (Paba) organised the human chain at `Lohar Bridge’ area in city’s Lalbagh.

Paba joint general secretary Hafizur Rahman Maina, Green Mind Society president Amir Hasan, its chief coordinator Mohammad Faruk and organising secretary Abul Hasnat, and Paba co-coordinator Atiq Murshed, among others, spoke at the human chain.

The speakers said land grabbers are illegally filing up old canals of Buriganga River in Kamrangirchar area, and if the trend continues, they feared, a huge part of old Dhaka will experience acute water logging this monsoon.

They urged the government to take stern action against the land grabbers and protect the city dwellers from water logging, and also constitute a River Commission to establish its sole authority on the rivers in the country.