Green activists have once again called on authorities to save rivers and water bodies from being encroached on. They put out the call on the eve of International Day of Action for Rivers, observed on March 14, to reclaim the river land and disclose names of the encroachers. The green activists have also expressed concern about the unabated encroachment on river even after the July uprising, urging the government to ratify the 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, discard all the projects that destroy rivers and reclaim all encroached river land. What is disappointing is that all the demands have been made earlier, too, and there are a number of court directives to save the rivers and reclaim encroached river land, but the authorities have failed to act on the demands and follow the court directives. Every now and then, public agencies conduct reclamation drives and evict the encroachers but cannot make the drives sustainable as encroachers return in weeks. Government agencies have also made lists of encroachers but could not save the river land.
The lists, keeping to different government estimates, have varyingly counted from 50,000 to 65,000 grabbers. There are not only people with moneyed and political clout but also public agencies on the lists. The High Court, which earlier asked the government to make the list of grabbers, also asked the government to prepare an action plan elaborating on the time frame, logistics and resources required to free up rivers of all sorts of encroachment and to demarcate river boundaries so as to protect them from encroachment, evict the encroachers and restore the rivers to their original state. The court has also asked the government to ensure that no public agencies take up any project on the banks of rivers without no objection certificates from the National River Conservation Commission and make the commission an independent and effective institution. The commission, which the court in 2016 declared to be the legal custodian of the rivers, has lived to be a mere 鈥榬ecommending body,鈥� without any statutory power of intervention and implementation. All this points to a worrying absence of will on part of the government to protect the rivers.
The government should, therefore, take a holistic approach to save the rivers. The government should have a comprehensive list of all entities, public and private, that have encroached on the rivers and draw up a comprehensive plan to reclaim the grabbed lands and restore the rivers to their original state. The government should also empower the National River Conservation Commission so that it can discharge its mandated duty.
