BSS :
Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Md Tajul Islam said that in order to keep the Meghna River free from pollution, the government has taken up a master plan which will be executed soon.
“The river water is being polluted due to regular dumping of sewage and industrial wastes… To save the deteriorating water quality and severely hampered fish breeding process, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed concerned authorities to take up necessary measures,” Tajul said this on Thursday while speaking as the chief guest at a virtual workshop of a high-level committee set up to create a master plan for the Meghna River , said a press release.
“With her directions, decision has been taken to formulate a master plan to prevent pollution of the Meghna River, free it from occupation and restore navigability. if the plan is executed properly, it will be possible to revive the river,” the minister said.
Mentioning that Dhaka WASA will draw water from the Meghna River to supply water to Dhaka city, Tajul said, “But we do not have any specific study report on how much water the river will lose. These will be included in this master plan.”
He then called upon the concerned officials to work honestly and sincerely and gave necessary instructions to the consultants for this purpose, the release added.
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.
The workshop was chaired by Helaluddin Ahmed, Senior Secretary, Local Government Department and conducted by Taksim A. Khan, Managing Director, WASA, Dhaka.
In the workshop, the Institute of Water Modeling presented the Inception Report prepared for the IWM Master Plan. CEGIS was the collaborating organization.
