Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD) Md Tajul Islam said that in order to keep the rivers free of pollution, not only industrial but also dumping household, medical and agricultural wastes should be stopped.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a workshop of a high-level committee formed on Thursday to create a master plan for the Meghna River on the online platform Zoom App.
In the workshop, the Institute of Water Modeling presented the Inception Report prepared for the IWM Master plan. CEGIS was the collaborating organization.
The minister said a decision has been taken to formulate a master plan on the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to prevent pollution of the Meghna River, free it from occupation and restore navigability.
River water is being polluted due to regular dumping of sewage, industrial and other wastes in the rivers of the country including the capital.
As a result, the quality of water is deteriorating and fish breeding is being severely hampered. Therefore, the government is formulating a master plan to free other rivers around Dhaka, prevent pollution and bring back navigability.
The Local Government Minister further said that a master plan is being drawn up so that the Meghna River does not fall prey to pollution and encroachment whereas, future needs and challenges can be met. He also mentioned that when the master plan is implemented, it will be possible to save the Meghna.
He said Dhaka WASA will draw water from the Meghna River to supply water to Dhaka city. However, we do not have any specific study report on how much water can be extracted from the river without threatening its individuality. These will be included in the master plan. To this end, the consultants gave the necessary instructions added Tajul Islam.
Helaluddin Ahmed, Senior Secretary of Local Government Department chaird the workshop while, Taksim A Khan, Managing Director of Dhaka WASA conducted it. Representatives of several development partner countries; officials of various organisations including AFD, KFW, EIB, ADB; and administrators of govt departments participated in the programme.
Earlier this year, Dhaka WASA signed an agreement with the Institute of Water Modeling-IWM and the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGI) to formulate a master plan to protect the Meghna River from occupation, pollution and navigability crisis.
