The Business-Politics Nexus and Violations of the Water Bodies in Dhaka City

BANGLADESH POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

“Buriganga gave life to Dhaka and Dhaka killed it.
-An Activist and Founder of Buriganga River Keeper”

ABSTRACT

In the last four decades, Bangladesh has achieved a remarkable transformation and improvements in terms of its economic and social development. Bangladesh’s achievement in environmental governance and sustainable development, however, is far from satisfactory. Multi-dimensional tragedies have occurred in the public resources, particularly the water bodies in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Water and forest resources are grabbed, depleted, and destroyed by certain political and economic interest groups. Few studies had focused on the governance of the water bodies in Dhaka City by adopting a political economic approach. Against this backdrop, adopting such an approach, this paper explores how the water bodies of Dhaka City have suffered violations. The paper argues that the ‘tragedy of the public resources’, particularly of the water bodies of Dhaka City, occurred primarily not due to the increasing population pressure but due to business and politics links associated with human transgression. Although the population boom has contributed to the rising pressure for public property and resources, the political business links, combined with a low institutional capacity, have primarily caused the disasters of the water bodies in Dhaka City. Successive governments have designed policies, laws, rules, and regulations for saving and protecting land, forest, and river resources. The government environmental agencies, however, have largely failed to manage and protect the public land and river resources effectively and efficiently. Consequently, the water bodies have been encroached on, misused, and grabbed, endangering the very existence of the rivers and so, ultimately, the process of sustainable development in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Business-Politics links, Tragedy of the commons, Water bodies, River, Dhaka City, Encroachment, Sustainable development

Notes on Contributor

* Farid Uddin Ahmed, PhD, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh, faridahmedpolisci@du.ac.bd.