Environment activists demand pollution free Kirtonkhola River

The environment activists of Barisal demanded pollution free Kirtonkhola River for which they formed a human chain in front of Aswani Kumar Hall on the eve of World Environment Day on Wednesday afternoon. The programme was organized by district committee of Institute for Environment and Development (IED) and Barisal Social Advancement Society (BSAS).
Journalist Gopal Sarkar, child organizer Jibon Krishna Dey, environment activists Khorshed Alam, Tapan Sarkar, Bandana Nath and others, addressed the gathering to make the participants aware of the evils of the river going polluted.
They said that continuing pollution of the water of the river has been threatening the existence of
Source:http://www.panoramio.com/

aqua in the river and endangering the riverside people, who depend on river water sources reportedly contacting skin and water-borne diseases.
The speakers said that the Kirtonkhola River, which were 45 feet deep and more than two kilometers wide 30 years ago, has recently been reduced to 4-10 feet deep and to half a kilometer wide at many points.
The encroacher's are filling the riverside every day while the BIWTA is helping them by depositing dredged earths and sands in the river bed. The filths so deposited in the bed of rivers also made the water polluted, considerably decreasing the depth. Moreover, there is no sewage or industrial waste treatment plant in Barisal. Besides, the pollution problem has been further compounded due to the spilling of various pollutants, including used oil and other wastes created by motorized boats, river launches and ships.
Pharmaceutical, cement factories, ship building dockyards and water transports discharge their toxic liquid and solid waste into the rivers without prior treatment causing serious pollution in the river water, destroying aqua life and threatening public health. Bad smell of polluted water caused by hundreds of makeshift latrines of the nearby slums, water transports, floating body of animals and dumping of waste into the water are common, they said.
Garbage from hospitals, clinics, poultry farms, kitchen and fish markets and houses of the riverside families also found their destination in the rivers, said the speakers.
On the other hand, the people living by the rivers, which are mostly poor and use river water for household works and bathing, were suffering from various skin and water-borne diseases, the speakers added. The participants finally asked all concerned and the people to become conscious in this regards in the interest of the future.