Political parties urged to give attention to river issues

Hailing political parties for making commitments in their election manifestos to take actions to ensure the availability of water in Bangladesh's river through regional cooperation, the International Farakka Committee (IFC) on Tuesday hoped that they will give greater attention to this vital issue in future, reports UNB.

Almost all the parties contesting the upcoming national election in Bangladesh have included river water and environment in their election manifestos, it said in joint statement.

The signatories to the statement are IFC New York chapter chairman Atiqur Rahman Salu, senior vice-chairman Awlad Hossain Khan and secretary general Sayed Tipu Sultan, Bangladesh chapter president Prof Jasim Uddin Ahmad, senior vice-president Dr SI Khan, general secretary Syed Irfanul Bari and coordinator Mostafa Kamal Majumder.The IFC has been working for the last three decades to create awareness about river-water and environment on which the physical existence of Bangladesh, the life and livelihood of its people and biodiversity depend.

Awami League in its manifesto has said cooperation in all areas, including the Teesta water-sharing, bilateral trade and security cooperation, would continue.

Initiatives would continue for basin-wide joint management of common rivers and harnessing hydroelectricity on the basis of sub-regional cooperation with India-Nepal-Bhutan.