Water experts at a discussion here on Thursday stressed the need for making a strong political commitment to resolve the longstanding water problem in South Asia region.
They said whenever Bangladesh, Nepal and many people of India talk about resolving river and water crises, the long-pending problem is still remained unsolved for lack of political commitment among these countries.
ActionAid Bangladesh, an NGO, arranged the regional discussion titled, ‘Water Walk’ at Cirdap auditorium in the capital. Former UN water SI Khan said India’s attitude towards trans-boundary rivers is regretful since it takes moves to withdraw water from these rivers putting the lower riparian Bangladesh at risk.
“We should place water issue at international level to resolve the regional water crisis. We’re late in dealing with the water problems. If we don’t start work in this regard, the situation will worsen in the future,” he said.
The water expert underscored the need for forming a regional water commission so that all the parties can place their opinion to solve water problems ensuring their mutual interest and equity share of water.
Chairman of the National River Conservation Commission (NRCC) Md Ataharul Islam said once there are 24,000 kilometres of river route in the country, but now it declined to only 4,000 kilometres.
“Bangladesh is facing such a situation due to water politics…our agriculture and river ecosystem are experiencing adverse impacts for lack of water flow in our rivers,” he said, warning many rivers of the country will dry up for lack of water flow in the future. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Ministry Dr Md Abdur Razzaque, Nazmul Haque Pradhan, MP, and manager of ActionAid Bangladesh Shamsher Ali, among others, spoke at the meeting.
