Staff Reporter :
A group of human rights bodies and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) demanded immediate initiatives to save the Manpura Island from sea water and river erosion. At a human chain in front of Jatiya Press Club on Tuesday the rally also attended by young people of the island also demanded transparency and accountability of the Water Development Board (WDB) to local people and elected bodies in repair and reconstruction of embankment projects to make sure that corruption and misuse of funds are not taking place in such projects.
Local embankment and river erosion protection are vital to protection of the island people but they are not properly implemented leaving the local people vulnerable to seawater and river erosion. Only stakeholders’ involvement can ensure quality work and avoid misuse of resources, they said.
Mustafa Kamal Akand of COAST Trust moderated the event. Zayed Iqbal Khan of Bangladesh Krishak Federation, Subal Sarkar of Bangladesh Bhumihin Samity, Mihir Biswas of Bangladesh Paribesh Bachao Andolon and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of EquityBD, among others spoke on the occasion.
They welcomed the government allocation of about Tk 197 crore for protection and development
of Manpura island and said only involvement of local people can ensure its proper utilization.
They demanded access to information about the WDB projects under a response mechanism to local people, tender process of work order must be transparent and WDB must be accountable for proper use of resources to local people.
