Environmentalists say growth has come at an incalculable cost, with a toxic melange of dyes, tanning acids and other dangerous chemicals making their way into the water.
Dead rivers: Cost of Bangladesh s garment-driven economic boom kuwaittimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kuwaittimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bangladeshi ferryman Kalu Molla began working on the Buriganga River before the patchwork of slums on its banks gave way to garment factories and before its waters turned pitch black.
The 52-year-old has a constant cough, allergies and skin rashes, and doctors have told him the vile-smelling sludge that has also wiped out marine life in one of Dhaka’s main waterways is to blame.
“Doctors told me to leave this job and leave the river, but how is that possible?” Molla said near his home on the industrial outskirts of the capital, Dhaka. “Ferrying people is my bread and butter.”
In the