The government has reconstituted the “District Dredging and Dredged Material Management and Monitoring Committee” to manage and monitor material from dredging. Under its terms of reference, the committee will inspect sites and, based on local demand and any applications from roads, educational, religious and other institutions, set priorities and allocate dredged material to them free of charge.
The information was given in a gazette on Thursday.
The deputy commissioner will chair the reconstituted committee. Its members will be the deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension, the district fisheries officer, the executive engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department, the relevant upazila nirbahi officer, the deputy or assistant director of the Department of Environment and, where needed, the executive engineer of BIWTA or the Water Development Board. Three local notables nominated by the chair, including one woman, and a student representative nominated by the deputy commissioner will also be members. A district-level officer of the agency carrying out the dredging, or a suitable representative, will serve as member secretary.
The committee will allocate dredged material free of charge, by priority, to institutions that apply to fill and develop low-lying land, including playgrounds, Eidgahs, mosques, temples, graveyards, cremation grounds, government khas land, fallow land and other public and social institutions.
If there are no applications, the committee will set prices for the dredged material under the rules, sell it and deposit the proceeds in the government treasury, and may advertise in newspapers for competitive bids, with advertising costs met from the relevant agency’s budget.
The committee will help manage material dredged from designated sites, supervise and monitor dredging and make recommendations, choose storage sites, allow stockpiling on government khas, fallow or requisitioned land, and resolve any problems with stockpiling. The Department of Environment representative will assess the possible environmental impact of river dredging and recommend action.
The committee will halt river dredging in fish habitats, sanctuaries and breeding grounds during the breeding season of mother fish, monitor changes in river courses and recommend action if they cause erosion or harm riverside communities, recommend measures to keep waterways navigable, and may identify river confluences and keep them open by dredging.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report