Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged on Tuesday all concerned to create reservoirs to harvest rainwater during the monsoon to utilise it for the country's development, reports UNB.
"We've to work out a plan for creating ways to harvest the water that we get during the monsoon," she said.
Sheikh Hasina said this while addressing a function organised by Water Resources Ministry at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC), marking the World Water Day 2018.
She 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."
The prime minister 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 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.
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."
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