DHAKA, June 27, 2018 (BSS) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today put emphasis on undertaking a far-reaching plan for improving the life and livelihood of the people of Bangladesh, a densely populated deltaic land.
“Bangladesh is a deltaic region where population density is much more. So, we need a far-reaching plan for further improving the life and livelihood of the people,” she said.
The premier expressed this view while addressing a function arranged on the occasion of the presentation of the final draft of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 at the Prime Minister’s Office here this morning.
After the meeting, PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.
Planning Commission Member Dr Shamsul Alam made the power point presentation on the final draft of the plan. He apprised the premier of various aspects and benefits of the plan, the press secretary said.
Stressing the need for regular dredging of the rivers and reopening the previous river routes, Sheikh Hasina said the erosion of rivers like the Padma, the Jamuna, the Meghna and the Arial Khan is a common phenomenon in the country.
“The erosion takes place due to underwater shoals,” she said.
The prime minister said she came to know from Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman that regular the dredging of the rivers of the country used to take place before the World War II.
“But the river dredging work stopped in the country after the war as all dredgers were converted to gunboats during that war,” she said quoting Bangabandhu.
Pointing out to the flood that the country experiences almost every year, Sheikh Hasina said there are both advantages and disadvantages of the flood.
“The soil is recharged and good yields of the crops takes place due to deposition of silt (due to floods),” she said.
Sheikh Hasina also laid stress on changing the places for extracting sand to check river erosion and proper waste management.
The prime minister said her government carried out dredging of “Ghashia Khal (canal)” in the Sundarbans where ships are plying now. “The canal had stopped as the previous BNP-Jamaat government leased out it for fish farming,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina thanked Dr Shamsul Alam and his team for the power point presentation on the final draft of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Engineer Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Water Resources Minister Anwar Hossain Manju, PM’s Economic Affairs Adviser Dr Moshiur Rahman, State Minister for Water Resources Nazrul Islam, PM’s Principal Secretary Md Nojibur Rahman and secretaries concerned were present.