Nat'l River Festival begins in city today

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A 16-day 'National River Festival 2010' will begin at Suhrawardy Uddyan in the city today (Thursday) for creating awareness among people for saving country's rivers and other water-bodies, reports UNB.
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan is expected to inaugurate the festival as the chief guest while Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University Dr Arefin Siddique will be present as the special guest.
Dhaka Press Club will organise the event.
General Secretary of Dhaka Press Club Kazi Farid Ahmed announced this at a press conference at a city hotel on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Kazi Farid Ahmed said that although Bangladesh is a land of rivers, the lifeline of civilisation and rivers are drying up gradually due to abuse and contamination of rivers and its resources.
Referring to contribution of rivers in country's transportation, he said there was 38 thousand kilometres of river routes in the country.