Ecological balance will be endangered greatly, if rivers across the country are continued to be grabbed and polluted, said Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, reports BSS. “Rivers across the country are facing a threat to dying.... Illegal grabbing and human induced pollutions are contributing to dying of rivers, which may create catastrophic situations,” he told a discussion titled “Threats to natural resources: Our position” in the auditorium of Forest Department here yesterday. Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) and Forest Department jointly organized the discussion on the occasion of the World Environment Day. Water Resources Secretary Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, Renowned hydrologist Dr Ainun Nishat, Representative of Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) to Bangladesh Mike Robson and Deputy Executive Director of CEGIS Dr Mominul Haque Sarkar, among others, addressed the discussion with Representative of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to Bangladesh Mike Robson with Chief Conservator of Forests Md Yunus Ali in the chair. Executive Director of CEGIS Engr Md Waji Ullah presented the keynote paper titled “Threats to natural resources: Our position” at the discussion. Rivers around Dhaka city particularly Buriganga are being grabbed and polluted rampantly, Anisul said adding water bodies also being filled for human purposes and there are loopholes in the Detailed Area Plan, which cause shrinking of water bodies. “We have adequate laws and it should be implemented strictly to protect our rivers from encroachment and all sorts of human induced pollution” he added. Anisul said the government is giving top priority to the construction of the Ganges barrage, which would ensure adequate water flows during the dry season and feed many rivers in southern Bangladesh during the winter and play an important role in controlling salinity.
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Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.