Speakers in a discussion unequivocally called for declaring the issues of water and sanitation as human rights to the hard-to-reach people in Barind tract as their living and livelihood condition is becoming vulnerable gradually.
Particularly, in the dried Barind part, they observed right to safe drinking water and sanitation of the public in general particularly the poor and distressed is being violated due to the present adverse impact of climate change. Time has come to declare the issue of water and sanitation as human rights, they opined.
They were addressing the closing session of a three-day environment and watsan related fair in Mushrivuza Yousuf Ali School and College playground under Bholahat Upazila today. NGO Forum for Public Health organized the fair with the main thrust of sensitizing and motivating the community people on the issue. ‘Enhancing Governance and Capacity of Service Provider and Civil Society in Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project’ supported the event. “Be Beside the Hard-to-Reach” was the main slogan of the programme where 14 government and non-government organizations took part showcasing their respective promotional activities in this field.
Upazila Chairman Anwarul Islam and its Vice-chairman Reshmatul Arash Rekha addressed the session as chief and special guests respectively with Majaharul Islam, Chairman of Daldali Union Parishad, in the chair.
Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr Mehefur Rahman, Regional Manager of NGO Forum for Public Health Rabiul Haque and its Programme Facilitator Sabit Jahan Shishir and Principal of the college AjgarAli also spoke.
During his concept paper presentation, Sabit Jahan gave an overview of water and sanitation related scenario in the drought-prone area adding that NGO Forum for Public Health is working here to mitigate the problems to some extent. Lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a national problem rather an individual one.
So, there was no alternative but to ensure transparency, accountability and good governance in the sector.
He said people in the drier part of the country has become vulnerable in terms of access to safe waterand sanitation, as both surface and underground water resources were depleting especially during the dry season.
The whole water and sanitation is facing serious threat due to multifarious reasons including arsenic intrusion, lack of underground recharging, rising of char lands as a result of erosion and accretion leading to water scarcity and quality problems.
Supply of safe drinking water and sanitation were the prerequisites to meet fundamental rights like education and health. There should be measures of finding out effective strategies to cope with the existing and new challenges regarding water and sanitation. Safe water and adequate sanitation facilities are crucial to protect the underprivileged community from different waterborne diseases, as many of them suffer from such diseases because of their ignorance about healthcare, UP Chairman Mazharul Islam mentioned.
To mitigate the situation, substantial promotion of water management and modern technology related to sanitation was needed immediately, he remarked.
Coordinated efforts from different government and non- government sectors were essential to fight the vulnerability, Islam advocated.
Policy level interventions are necessary to achieve sustainability of groundwater use for achieving the food security in the country, Rabiul Haque suggested saying that it is important to take necessary policy to reduce extraction of groundwater.
