No harmful projects will be built in Haor: Rizwana Hasan
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, a leading environmentalist and advisor in Bangladesh’s Interim Government, in charge of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEFCC), Bangladesh and the Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR), Bangladesh, said that a plan is being made on how to keep the environment and nature of Haor intact.
No projects that harm the environment will be built in Haor. She said this at a view-sharing meeting on the implementation of the embankment construction project to protect Boro crops in the Haor area in Sunamganj on November 28.
The meeting was held in the conference room of the Deputy Commissioner’s office at Sunamgonj. Md Ilias Mia, the Deputy Commissioner and President of the District Committee, oversaw the construction of submersible embankments to protect crops from early floods in Haor.
Advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan, as the chief guest, stated, “It’s time to begin the construction of submersible embankments in Haor.” So, changing the entire system will not work. We have to work.
To make the farmers’ crops safe, a PIC (Project Implementation Committee) must be formed after holding a public hearing. All work is required to commence by December 15.
The advisor said that there will be online ‘Zoom meetings’ from time to time to know the progress of the work, and when the Zoom meetings will be held, there will be farmer representatives, Project Implementation Committees (PICs), and members of the monitoring committees.
Signboards of the work should be put up next to the under-construction Embankment. People should be informed about the construction of the embankment and its cost.
She asked the District Administrator to look into how the embankment work can be completed in an inclusive manner.
He questioned why farmers who are not landowners or share croppers cannot be included in the committee, and said, “What is the problem if people who are involved in agriculture are included in the committee?”
Rizwana Hasan requested not to build permanent infrastructure in the Haor. She said that a Haor in Netrokona is dying for the road. If you see or understand that you have faced damage like Chalan Beel and Mithamoin in Kishoreganj after building a permanent structure, then there are a few ways to correct it.
