PM Tarique to kick off canal excavation drive today

Dinajpur, Mar 15 (UNB): Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is set to visit Dinajpur today (Monday) to inaugurate a nationwide canal-excavation and re-excavation programme aimed at improving irrigation, boosting agricultural production and creating rural employment.
It will be Tarique Rahman's first visit outside the capital since assuming office as Prime Minister on February 17.
After introducing the Family Card programme, the government is now launching the canal excavation programme to fulfill another election pledge of BNP.
Tarique Rahman will arrive at Syedpur Airport at 10:15am from Dhaka by air, Prime Minister's Deputy Press Secretary Hasan Shiplu told UNB on Sunday.
From the airport, Shiplu said the Prime Minister will travel by road to Balrampur Sahapara area in Kaharole upazila of Dinajpur.
He said Tarique Rahman will formally inaugurate the nationwide canal excavation and re-excavation programme-2026 by re-excavating the Sahapara canal, marking the start of simultaneous activities across the country.
The Prime Minister is also scheduled to address a public meeting at Sahapara around 12:30pm.
Later, he will offer fateha at the graves of his grandfather Md Iskander Majumder, grandmother Taiba Majumder and aunt Khurshid Jahan Haque at Sheikh Farid Model Graveyard on the outskirts of Dinajpur town.
In the evening, he will attend an iftar gathering and view-exchange meeting with distinguished guests and political leaders at 5:00pm at Dinajpur Circuit House premises before returning to Dhaka by air at night.