Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday asked the officials of the Water Resources Ministry not to stop the natural flow of water by constructing dams or embankments in the name of development.
She also directed the officials concerned to abandon the concept of sluice-gate, saying these do not bring anything good and also have no effectiveness.
“Development does mot mean just constructing dams,” the Prime Minister said in her introductory speech during her meeting with high officials of the Water Resources Ministry at Bangladesh Secretariat.
About the sluice gates, she said many canals in the country just died due to this system. “This system obstructs the plying of boats in the canals; fishes also become unavailable in the canals.”
Hasina said Bangladesh being a riverine country floods is a normal matter and it could not be prevented through constructing embankment alone.
She said the rivers should be dredged to increase their water holding capacity, and at the same time, the people would have to learn how to live with floods as without floods good harvest is not possible.
“Rivers and waters have their own power and men can’t control these. So, ways should be found to live with nature.”
She suggested building tall dwelling houses in the flood prone areas of the country.
The Prime Minister said that her government is carrying out regular dredging to maintain the navigability of the rivers and about 16-square kilometers of land has been reclaimed by capital dredging in river Jamuna alone.
She said the government has procured 11 dredgers to conduct capital dredging in 30 major rivers of the country after completion of the ongoing study.
Hasina said the government, in 1996, undertook an overall plan for the development of water resources.
About the past attitude of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, she said that when the government talked about river dredging these development partners advocated for embankments. “If you build so many embankments, these will usually lose effectiveness.”
As part the government’s overall plan, she mentioned that the National Water Policy was formulated in 1999, National Water Resources Plan was adopted in 2001 while the Bangladesh Water Act 2013 has been enacted to ensure proper use and management of water.
The Prime Minister recalled that soon after the independence, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took some historic decisions for the development of the water resources.
He established Water Development Board in 1972 and the same year constituted the Indo-Bangla Joint River Commission.
Referring to her government’s target to turn Bangladesh a middle income nation by 2021 and a front ranking developed nation by 2041, Hasina underscored the need for hard work by all to achieve the target.
She urged the officers and employees of the Water Resources Ministry and all its affiliated bodies to utilize their knowledge, experience, efficiency, and sincerity to build a Sonar Bangla, as dreamt by Bangabandhu, free from poverty, hunger and illiteracy.
Water Resources Minister Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud, PM’s adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman, State Minister for Water Resources M Nazrul Islam, Secretary Zafar Ahmed and other high officials were present during the meeting.
Source: UNBConnect