PM asks for policy controlling river sand extraction
Monday, 23 November 2009
Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina Sunday directed the authorities concerned to formulate a specific policy to control sand extraction from rivers, as unplanned sand extraction is harming the country's aquatic resources, reports UNB.
She also gave directives to take immediate measures to clean up polythene, coconut husks, bottles and other garbage from the riverbeds of Buriganga, Shitalkhya, Turag, and Balu to ensure smooth and effective dredging of waterways.
The PM gave the directives while presiding over the second meeting of the Committee on Water Resources and River Dredging Affairs at the PM's Office in the city Sunday.
Press Secretary to the PM Abul Kalam Azad briefed newsmen after the meeting.
The first meeting of the committee was held on August 25 this year.
"People must not be allowed to haphazardly extract sands from rivers. Such practices are terribly harming the country's bio-diversity and environment," the PM said.
She said that the massive river dredging project being implemented by the government would also be hampered if this chaotic and unsystematic sand extraction was not stopped immediately.
"Before going for sand extraction, it has to be known that from which part of a particular river and how much sand from there will be extracted. If discipline can be ensured, river dredging and sand extraction can be run simultaneously," the PM said. She also asked the Ministries and Departments concerned for ensuring better coordination between giving permission for sand extraction and other official procedures in this regard.
The PM further asked the authorities for taking punitive actions against those who would not abide by the rules and regulations regarding extraction of sands from the rivers. About cleaning up the riverbeds, Hasina said that the government would give all financial and logistic support to the departments concerned for removing the river garbage.
There are 53 waterways in the country of which 50 will be dredged by 2018. Six dredgers out of 16 have already started to work through the Gorai River.
About the Gorai River dredging, she said that this river was very important for sound environment of the coastal areas. "If it loses its natural navigability, salinity will increase in the areas bringing down crop production in the region.
When salinity was increased, habitation and breeding of wild animals in the Sundarbans, particularly the Royal Bengal Tigers, would be endangered apart from harming the flora and fauna of the mangrove forests, she said.
As the necessity of having information and statistics on Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers came up for discussion in the meeting, the PM said that the report made prior to the construction of Bangabandhu Bridge could be the most fruitful research work to move on for more development of waterways in the two major rivers. About the recent international summits on climate change, the PM said that the international leaders had also agreed with her that climate change and food security were interlinked. Hasina also said that the climate change, particularly in the countries like Bangladesh, was severely harming food production, threatening the government's target to attain food security.
She laid emphasis on intensive studies and research work for inventing salinity- and drought-tolerant crop varieties for attaining sustainable food security.
The PM reiterated her call for ensuring a separate fund for the Most Vulnerable Countries (MVCs) to enable them to face the challenges of climate change.
She also gave directives to take immediate measures to clean up polythene, coconut husks, bottles and other garbage from the riverbeds of Buriganga, Shitalkhya, Turag, and Balu to ensure smooth and effective dredging of waterways.
The PM gave the directives while presiding over the second meeting of the Committee on Water Resources and River Dredging Affairs at the PM's Office in the city Sunday.
Press Secretary to the PM Abul Kalam Azad briefed newsmen after the meeting.
The first meeting of the committee was held on August 25 this year.
"People must not be allowed to haphazardly extract sands from rivers. Such practices are terribly harming the country's bio-diversity and environment," the PM said.
She said that the massive river dredging project being implemented by the government would also be hampered if this chaotic and unsystematic sand extraction was not stopped immediately.
"Before going for sand extraction, it has to be known that from which part of a particular river and how much sand from there will be extracted. If discipline can be ensured, river dredging and sand extraction can be run simultaneously," the PM said. She also asked the Ministries and Departments concerned for ensuring better coordination between giving permission for sand extraction and other official procedures in this regard.
The PM further asked the authorities for taking punitive actions against those who would not abide by the rules and regulations regarding extraction of sands from the rivers. About cleaning up the riverbeds, Hasina said that the government would give all financial and logistic support to the departments concerned for removing the river garbage.
There are 53 waterways in the country of which 50 will be dredged by 2018. Six dredgers out of 16 have already started to work through the Gorai River.
About the Gorai River dredging, she said that this river was very important for sound environment of the coastal areas. "If it loses its natural navigability, salinity will increase in the areas bringing down crop production in the region.
When salinity was increased, habitation and breeding of wild animals in the Sundarbans, particularly the Royal Bengal Tigers, would be endangered apart from harming the flora and fauna of the mangrove forests, she said.
As the necessity of having information and statistics on Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers came up for discussion in the meeting, the PM said that the report made prior to the construction of Bangabandhu Bridge could be the most fruitful research work to move on for more development of waterways in the two major rivers. About the recent international summits on climate change, the PM said that the international leaders had also agreed with her that climate change and food security were interlinked. Hasina also said that the climate change, particularly in the countries like Bangladesh, was severely harming food production, threatening the government's target to attain food security.
She laid emphasis on intensive studies and research work for inventing salinity- and drought-tolerant crop varieties for attaining sustainable food security.
The PM reiterated her call for ensuring a separate fund for the Most Vulnerable Countries (MVCs) to enable them to face the challenges of climate change.