RAJSHAHI, Jan 29, 2021 (BSS) – Speakers at a community level meeting mentioned the conservation of the Ganges River has become urgent for protecting biodiversity and ecosystem in the region.
Living and livelihood conditions of tens of thousands of households along both sides of the Ganges River are dependent on the river, so there is no way but to protect and conserve the mighty river from further degradation.
The discussants came up with the observation while addressing the annual general meeting of the Ganga River Conservation Committee (GRCC) at Pirijpur village, adjacent to the bank of the Ganges River, under Godagari Upazila in Rajshahi district today.
Nadi Adhikar Moncha (NAM), a voluntary organization working for protecting the river, supported the meeting.
NAM Member-Secretary Shamsher Ali and Assistant Coordinator Rashed Ripon addressed the meeting as focal persons with GRCC President Shariful Islam Mukta in the chair.
GRCC General Secretary Muhammad Minhaj and Members Muhammad Bakul, Parul Khatun and Sumi Khatun also spoke.
The speakers said protection of the river, water bodies and environment is needed for sustainable development of the country. They urged the field level administrative officials to save the river area from encroachment as early as possible.
Stressing the need for protecting the Ganges to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem along with mitigating water crises in the drought-prone Barind area Shamsher Ali emphasized protecting other tributaries to keep balance of environment and save aquatic species.
He mentioned that the mighty river has now turned into a dried bed of sand dunes and silts due to depletion of flow of water. Every year, the river is losing its navigability with deposition of millions of tonnes of silt on the riverbed.
Ali said the water in the river now visible for three to four months only and in the rest eight to nine months of the year water level drops to its lowest ebb resulting in miles long sandy char land across the river.
The main flow of the river is from the right side of the river but the flow has now turned into stagnant water bodies in the river bed.
In the meeting, a 28-member GRCC was formed making Shariful Islam and Rashed Ripon as its president and general secretary respectively.