Govt's 'apathy' towards flood situation shocking: BNP

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said on Thursday that the government's 'apathy' towards the havocs caused by flooding every year was shocking.
Senior joint secretary general of BNP Ruhul Kabir Rizvi made the comment while speaking at a regular press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office in the capital.
He lamented that reliefs were yet to reach the people marooned by floodwater in Sylhet, Rangpur and Mymensingh districts.
Mr Rizvi said that flood-hit hundreds of thousands of people were passing days in helpless condition in the affected areas.
He urged BNP leaders and activists in those areas to stand beside the flood-hit people.
He said that the ongoing floods due to onrush of hill water coupled with incessant rains were creating havocs in Sylhet, Sunamganj and Moulvibazar districts.
He added that many people were being affected as their crops in the fields and houses were washed away by floodwater.
Besides, hospitals, educational institutions and offices were also affected by floodwater and fishes in the ponds were also washed away, he continued.
Mr Rizvi said that the condition of flood-stranded people in Mymensingh and Rangpur divisions was also dangerous.
"The flood-affected people are paying the price for the government's wrong policy," he said.
He also said, "As per experts' opinions, unplanned activities are going on in Sylhet area in the name of developing haor."
He added, "The intensity of flood has increased for building embankment on the river that hampered the natural flow of river water."
Mr Rizvi further said that the government has failed to develop 'early warning system' despite recurrence of floods in the same areas.
A nation could not be developed by a government when its own policy is to push the people towards bearing boundless sufferings, he continued.
He said that this year the volume of selling rawhides was not satisfactory as the traders or rawhides merchants have shown little interest to purchase skins at competitive prices.
Mr Rizvi said that syndicates were behind this and tactfully made the prices of rawhides lower.
He added that merchants did not purchase rawhides at rates fixed by the government.
The senior joint secretary general of BNP further said that the government failed to take effective steps to repatriate Rohingyas to their own country.
Joint Secretary General of BNP Habib Un Nabi Khan Sohel, party leader Syed Imran Saleh Prince and voluntary affairs secretary Mir Sharafat Ali Safu were present, among others, at the press briefing.

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