Initiative to prevent desertification with canal excavation and bank protection embankments: State minister for water resources
Photo: Collected
State Minister for Water Resources Farhad Hossain Azad has said the government is working on excavating canals and building river bank protection embankments to save the country from turning into a desert and to stand beside people affected by river erosion.
He said this on Friday afternoon while inaugurating 1,150 metres of bank protection work on the Karatoya river at Bandarmoni and Boalmari in Boda upazila of Panchagarh under the Sustainable Management of Rivers of Panchagarh and Thakurgaon Districts Project (1st part), organised by the Water Development Board.
The state minister said Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman had started canal excavation work in 1977, but no other government felt its necessity. The Tarique Rahman government has taken the initiative of canal excavation to save the country from turning into a desert.
Mentioning that the BNP government believes in deeds, not words, he further said former president Ziaur Rahman had started the canal excavation programme to protect people from floods and landslides. In continuation of that, the Tarique Rahman government is carrying on the work of building bank protection embankments, thinking of the sufferings of the people on the river banks.
He said a Baruni bathing ghat is being built there as a pilgrimage site for Hindu Sanatanis, where followers of the Hindu religion will be able to observe religious rituals without hindrance.
Present at the event were Water Development Board Executive Engineer Ashutosh Barman, upazila BNP President Abdul Mannan, General Secretary Asadullah Asad, Organising Secretary Raihanul Pradhan and Barashashi union BNP General Secretary Raisul Islam Liton, along with leaders of the BNP and its affiliated and associate organisations and local beneficiaries.
