Dredging work of Ichhamati to start in November

---

PABNA, July 28 (UNB): Dredging work of Ichhamati River will start in next November involving Tk 180 million to increase its navigability, officials here said.
Under the project, 1.80 lakh cft soil will be dredged from the river. A footpath will also be constructed on both sides of the riverbank.
Local pourashava authorities will carry out the dredging and piling works while Zilla Parishad will perform the beautification work.
Navigability of the 54-km river was decreased due to dumping of wastes by local people and industries. Moreover, the influential people of the district have also grabbed vast tracts of land on both sides of the bank.
The previous four-party alliance government took a number of programmes, including dredging of the river, demolishing of illegal structures on its bank and beautification at a cost of Tk 100 million.
The plan was placed to the Water Resources Ministry for allocation. But it didn't proceed further.
The excavation work of the project is going to start after Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, at a meeting in Rajshahi two months back, promised to re-excavate the river. Later, CA office asked the Local Government Ministry to take necessary measures in this regard.
The Ministry formed a task force, which has already started their work in cooperation with local pourashava, LGED and District Administration and the task force visited the site. The ministry has initially allocated Tk 18 million for the project.