Govt plans to train 3 mighty river systems: Minister
UNB
Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud yesterday said the government is planning to train three mighty river systems - Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna - to check riverbank erosion in the country, reports UNB.
We are not only thinking of controlling riverbank erosion, but also planning of training the mighty river systems, he told a workshop in the capital.
Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) organised the national workshop on draft inception report of the Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Programme (FRERMIP) at Sonargaon Hotel.
Speaking as the chief guest, Anisul Islam said the government has taken a mega project, involving about US$ 1.8 billion, to build an embankment on the right bank of the Jamuna River to stabilise riverbank, aiming to protect lands and property of the local people.
Mentioning that the government is implementing the proposed Padma Bridge project, he cautioned that similar impacts of erosion will take place in the river once the project is implemented.
About the adverse impacts of erosion, he said about 50,000 people become landless in the country every year and the people who get affected by erosion cannot be rehabilitated.
If people once become migrant losing their belongings due to riverbank erosion, they are forced out of society and it is quite impossible to return to normal life as they lose their land as well as their roots, the Water Resources Minister bemoaned.
Riverbank erosion leaves up to 200,000 people homeless each year in the country, according to a 2013 study by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit at the University of Dhaka and the Sussex Centre for Migration Research at the University of Sussex in Britain.
Anisul Islam observed that the displaced people take shelters in major cities and the Chittagong Hill Tracts since the erosion takes away everything. Most displaced people come to Dhaka city and start rickshaw pulling.
Chaired by BWDB director general M Ismail Hossain, the workshop was addressed, among others, by State Minister for Water Resources Muhammad Nazrul Islam, Water Resources Secretary Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, First Secretary of Netherlands Embassy in Dhaka Carel-de Groot and Senior Water Resources Specialist of Asian Development Bank Natsuka Totsuka.
FRERMIP team leader Knut Oberhagemann made a power-point presentation on draft inception report of the project.
