Ancient River Titas has been grappling with poor navigability and has turned into a narrow canal due to mindless encroachment and dumping of garbages in Ashuganj of Brahmanbaria district.
Although a dredging project at a cost of Tk155 crore was conducted by the Water Development Board in Brahmanbaria in 2018 but it failed to bring any positive outcome due to a lack of monitoring and unabated encroachment and dumping of scraps, locals alleged.

The 130-km-long river originated from Meghna and touches almost all the upazilas of the district before falling back into the Meghna. Earlier, many locals used to make a living by fishing in the river. Besides, many people used to travel by boat through this and passenger and cargo boats used to ply every morning till evening.
The free water flow of the river has been massively ransacked by man-made hazards, especially from Medda to Kanchanpur areas of Brahmanbaria city where the river has been almost choked into a canal, witnesses said.

Residents and people from various organisations said that they have been trying to draw the attention of the administration through various programmes, including by forming human chains to protect Titus. But no visible measures were taken in this regard.
Several firms have been built on the banks of the river and their waste is being dumped into the river regularly hampering the biodiversity of the age-old waterbody, they said, adding that the municipality is collecting revenue from these institutions but these institutions are polluting the river.
Locals said once they would rise to the hue and cry of fishermen at dawn. Now the river-based livelihood, business and agriculture are under threat. In old times, different water vassals used to ply on this river but now that is a rare scenario as it has turned into a thin canal.
They demanded re-excavation and restoration of the canal to its former condition.
Bisal Chakraborty, assistant director of the Department of Environment, said that pollution was detected at about 14 points of the River Titus that flows through the Brahmanbaria municipality. Among them, Anand Bazar, Jagat Bazar, Tan Bazar, Medda Bazar, Medda Crematorium Ghat and Kautli Bazar have been cleaned up recently due to the high level of pollution. Besides, a list of 56 polluters has been made who remove the garbage from the water at their own expense with the help of the municipality in the Anand Bazar area, he said.
“Besides, taking legal action has been recommended against 23 polluters of Kautali Bazar as their cleaning operations are not progressing. In addition, a clean-up campaign is being conducted under the direction of the district administration under the initiative of the Department of Environment with the help of the municipality in Medda Bazar. Such operations are ongoing.”
The Municipality is informed from time to time on various issues by the Department of Environment. Besides, when we receive any complaint from the local citizens, we take immediate action. The water flow quality of the river has been measured and tested and the results were satisfactory, he added.