Amreto Sarkar from Rajshahi
Where is the Shiv River which I saw during my childhood? Why this river is dying day by day? Md. Afaz Uddin Kabiraj (65), a grazing poet from Gokul-Mathura village in Tanore upazila of Rajshahi, was saying these words with regret. He was speaking at a human chain organized by the Gokul-Mathura Fishermen’s Cooperative Society and BARCIK recently to protect the river on the banks of the river Shiva, which flows past Tanore Upazila in Rajshahi.
More than a hundred fishermen and civil society representatives participated in the human chain demanding to dredge the Shiv River for reviving the culture and protect the marine biodiversity.
Speakers at the human chain said, “Thousands of people once lived around the river Shiv, it was an abode of biodiversity. There were various aquatic plants in the past. But the river is being filled with different wastes and sands which impact its natural flow. People do not get enough water from the river due to this pollution. As a result, the livelihood of thousands of fishermen is in crisis. Local native fish species are also getting lost. At the same time, the ecological balance of the area is being disturbed.’ Gokul-Mathura Fisheries Cooperative Society President Kalam Hossain said, ‘If the river survives, we will survive, and if we survive, the country will prosper.’
It is to mention that Shiv River originates from Atrai River and falls in the largest challan bill through Manda upazila of Naogaon district, Tanore of Rajshahi district and Natore district through Paba. While passing through Tanore Upazila, the river carries its current through Beel Kumari Beel. Due to the confluence of Shiv River and Beel Kumari, a reservoir of biodiversity is naturally created here. The river Shiv became the main source of income for the people of the villages on both sides of the river. But in 1965, the river stopped flowing due to the construction of a dam at the source of the river in Baidyapur area of Manda upazila. On the other hand, due to encroachment by the influential persons, the size of the river becoming small day by day. Besides, fish diversity is declining due to pollution. Edible aquatic plants like Singer, Likhar, Shaluk are lost from the river. As a result, many in the fishing community have been forced to change occupations.
However, in 2014 BARCIK started its activities in Tanore Upazila. The organization organized different activities to protect the nature, environment and biodiversity. And the social movement to protect the all rivers including the Shiva at Tanore of Rajshahi has been led by BARCIK and local associations like Gokul-Mathura Fishermen’s Cooperative Society. The Shiv River Protection Committee was also formed as part of this social movement by progressive people, members of the fishing community and journalists, who are regularly implementing various activities to protect the river.
Translated by Silvanus Lamin