The High Court on Sunday directed the government authorities to submit a proper list of the country's rivers and division-wise list of illegal occupiers.
The court asked the finance secretary, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Water Development Board (WDB) and all the district commissioners to submit the lists within six months.
The HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Mia and Md Kamrul Hossain Molla passed the order during a hearing on a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).
Lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hasan represented BElA at the hearing while Deputy Attorney General Nowroz Md Rasel Chowdhury appeared for the state.
Syeda Rizwana said there is an inconsistency regarding the number of rivers in Bangladesh.
“Even after the court passed many directions the river areas are determined wrongly which actually facilitates the illegal grabbing. At some places the action to evict occupiers is going on but not in all," she said.
According to the petition, WDB data says there are 405 rivers in Bangladesh while National River Conservation Commission (NRCC) mentions 707 and a private research says 1,182.
As the number of rivers remained undetermined, so did the number of illegal occupiers, it said.
NRCC data shows there are 57, 390 listed illegal occupiers while reports in national dailies exceed it.
Recently the state minister for the shipping ministry told the Parliament there are 65, 127 river occupiers in the country.
BELA filed the writ in view of the discrepancy, Rizwana said.
