The Transparency International Bangladesh on Friday said that removal of the National River Conservation Commission’s chair halfway through his tenure contradicted the pledge the government made to save rivers.
The anti-corruption watchdog expressed deep concern over the removal of Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury and said the message delivered to the people was alarming.
The TIB wanted to know whether protecting the interest of influential vested grabber groups was being considered as public interest, leaving aside the task of conservation of the rivers.
‘Though the commission is a statutory body, it has, in fact, been kept ineffective by the law. The commission can only advise the government. It has no power to take punitive action against river grabbers and polluters,’ said TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman.
The government on Wednesday cancelled the contractual appointment of Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury as chair of the National River Conservation Commission. He was supposed to serve in the position till February 2025.
The public administration ministry issued a gazette notification, cancelling the rest of the period of his contractual tenure, citing the ‘public interest’.
Iftekharuzzaman also wanted to know if the influential people’s interest turned the public interest.
The official order came in less than a month after his comment against a female minister in Chandpur, who allegedly has links with the people illegally extracting sand from the River Meghna.
On September 24, the NRCC organised a discussion at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital marking World Rivers Day where the chair made the comment without naming the minister.
His remarks turned a talk of the country as the education minister, Dipu Moni, also the joint secretary of the ruling Awami League, is the only female minister from the Chandpur district.
Manjur, chairman of non-government think tank the Centre for Governance Studies, was appointed chairman of the NRCC for three years in February 2022.
Asked for his comment, Manjur, also former president of the Zoological Society of Bangladesh, said that his removal from the post was a victory of the grabbers, polluters and illegal sand traders who had destroyed the rivers of the country.
