THE photograph published on May 4 on the back page of a local English-language daily depicted the hijacking of river foreshore land on the Turag in Tongi. It only reinforces the saying that might is right. Who cares about river demarcation when you can so easily get valuable foreshore land for free? The only costs are that of tadbir at the right time and at the right place and pocket.
Will the Department of Environment take stern action after seeing the photograph? Or is it that they too see no evil and hence do no evil to harm the illegal occupant of state property. Turning a blind eye may be their easy way out.
Possibly, the owners are close to royalty; sorry it should be source of power that does all that is to be done ‘for the people, of the people and by the people’s representatives’ in our latest model of democracy.
After all they make the laws as well as exceptions to it, which can be termed footnotes to the law, as and when needed.
Democracy may be ashamed of this local model; so, not to hurt it, we may
call it demoncracy in action. The visible pillar of ‘river demarcation’ shown in the picture is just a small piece of concrete with a pipe sticking out of it that can easily be dug out for, say, five thousand takas at most, to get land ownership and put boundary walls. All we can say is: Long live flouting of laws; where might (financial, appropriate contacts or appropriate power) is always right, come what may!’
SA Mansoor
Dhaka