PM emphasises harvest rainwater for dev

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged all concerned to create reservoirs to harvest rainwater during the monsoon to utilise it for the country's development.

"We've to work out a plan for creating ways to harvest the water that we get during the monsoon," UNB quoted her as saying.

The prime minister gave the call while addressing a function organised by the water resources ministry at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC), marking the World Water Day 2018.

Sheikh Hasina said the water preservation capacity of the country's rivers has decreased due to siltation. "Riverbeds get inflated due to siltation. This is how they lose their navigability, but we have to protect our rivers."

She said the rivers could retain their navigability through the planned dredging which will be beneficial for the country.

"I always think that through dredging, we could increase the navigability of the rivers and we can preserve the excessive water that comes from the Himalaya during the rainy season. The more water we can preserve the more it will be beneficial for the country," she said.

Talking about seasonal flood, Hasina said flood is also needed for Bangladesh. "We've to live with flood, but we need to be careful so that this flood doesn't harm us... we have to utilise the bright side [increasing land fertility] of flood, too," she said.

The prime minister asked the authorities concerned to take plans keeping that view of flood in mind. "We also have to implement those plans so that we can achieve the desired goal of making Bangladesh a poverty- and hunger-free country as dreamt by Bangabandhu," she said.

She said there should always be preparations to face the challenges of nature as the people of the country have to live with it.

About filling rivers, canals, beels and ponds in the name of development, Hasina said all must refrain from this practice.

She said Bangladesh then initiated the Teesta Barrage construction without considering its consequences. "We didn't think anything about what will happen in the future."

As a lower riparian country, Bangladesh should have thought about the outcome of this barrage, the Prime Minister said, adding, "Now we're having problems with the water of the Teesta River."

Briefly describing government's various programmes for water management, she said it formulated the National Water Policy-1999, Bangladesh Water Act-2013, Environment Conservation Rules-1997 and National Policy for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation-1998.

It also signed the 'Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development' with India in 2011 to ensure the sustainable use of water resources.

She mentioned that Bangladesh Water Development Board has completed 825 projects since its inception which has brought about 64 lakh hectares of land under the facilities of flood control, drainage and irrigation where additional 10 million tonnes of food grain are being produced annually, ensuring self-sufficiency in food. In addition, 1,030 square km of land have been reclaimed from estuaries and rivers.

"We've constructed 139 polders in coastal areas. As a result, 133 upazilas under 19 districts have been protected from the intrusion of saline water which also provides favourable environment for crop production in the coastal areas of Bangladesh," she added.

Hasina said rivers and navigation routes have been protected through dredging and preventing riverbank erosion. "The lives and property of the people of coastal areas have been protected from cyclone and stormsurges by constructing coastal embankments."

"The government invested Tk 15,250 crore in the Annual Development Programmein the water sector in the last five years. A total of 57 projects were completed in the last financial year. The government has allocated Tk 4,663 crore in the current fiscal year and increased the allocation for the water resources development," she said.

Water resources minister Anwar Hossain Manju, state minister Muhammad Nazrul Islam and director general of Bangladesh Water Development Board Mahfuzur Rahman also spoke at the programme chaired by acting water resources secretary Kabir Bin Anwar.

The theme of the World Water Day is: 'Nature for Water'.