Staff Reporter :
The government is ready to take help from the international community in containing oil spread in the Sundarbans, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said on Sunday.
“We are ready to take assistance from our development partners to prevent the oil spill that spread 350 sq km in the Sundarbans,” said the Minister while talking to The New Nation on Sunday night.
Referring to the global comminity’s concern over the Sundarbans, Shahjahan Khan said, “We appreciate their anxiety about the oil spill as well as their offer to help of rapid clearing of the oil flowing into numerous canals and rivers of the forest.” He said the UNDP Dhaka office has put forward a proposal offering help in this regard. “Their proposal was sent to the inter-ministerial experts’ committee for scrutiny. Once we will get green signal from the body, we will officially seek their assistance,” he added.
Earlier, the government has formed a high-level committee comprising representatives of the forest department, the department of environment and experts to control the spread of oil. When asked, Shahjahan Khan said the government would have to be paid the international agencies for their involvement in the task of clearing oil from Sundarbans. While talking to The New Nation Professor Ainun Nishat, an environment expert, said that the oil spillage cannot be stopped rapidly by using 100 to 150 people to collect the oil. This has to be a national effort, involving much more people. Help could be taken from the international agencies for rapid clearing of the oil from Sundarbans.
