Staff Reporter :
The Communist Party of Bangladesh and the Bangladesher Samajtantrik Party (BSP) will hold Dhaka-Teesta road march beginning from April 17.
The two left parties demand for proper share of the trans-boundary Teesta River water from the Indian government. They also condemn what they call subservient foreign policy of the present Awami League government.
Syed Abu Zafar Ahmed, General Secretary of the CPB at a press conference in the Moitri Auditorium of its central office announced the road march programme.
The road march with buses and other vehicles will leave Dhaka on April 17, through holding a rally in
front of the Jatiya Press Club.
The marchers will hold road side rallies at Tongi, Gazipur and make night halt in Sirajganj district on the first day.
On the second day, they will organise a rally in Sirajganj in the morning and start for Bogra, holding road side rallies and stay in Bogra.
On the third day on April 19, the marchers will start for Teesta Barrage in the morning from Bogra and hold a concluding rally at Doani Bazar of Hatirbandha.
The BSP, General Secretary Khalequzzaman said, the Indian government has been controlling the flow of water of the Teesta, building barrage and other structures along the basin of the river unilaterally.
Meanwhile, BNP will hold a long-march programme towards Teesta Barrage this month demanding Bangladesh’s fair share of Teesta water.
The BNP’s decision was taken at a standing committee meeting held in the party Chairperson’s Gulshan office with Khaleda Zia in the chair.
About the date of the long march, a party standing committee member told the media that it is yet to be finalised.
Leaders and activists of left-leaning parties earlier this month also held a road march towards the Teesta Barrage and vowed that they would continue their movement until Bangladesh gets its rightful share of water of all the 54 cross-border rivers, including the Teesta.
They took the vow as they spoke at roadside rallies in different places in the country’s northern region.
Zonayed Saki, an organiser of the road march, said that they would adopt the ‘Teesta declaration’ and announce fresh programme from the rally at Doani Bazar near the Teesta Barrage in Lalmonirhat.
The left leaders urged people to forge unity and wage a movement to get the rightful share of the cross-border river water. They said that because of the ‘weak foreign policy’ of the Awami League-led government, Bangladesh failed to get its due share of the Teesta and other rivers.
They said that that the government’s subservient attitude towards India was responsible for the situation and this would create an adverse impact on the life, agriculture, fish farming and the environment.The left leaders said that India was withdrawing the water unilaterally upstream the Teesta, rendering vast areas in greater Rangpur, Dinajpur and Bogra dry causing adverse impact on agriculture.
The DLA, a combine of eight left-leaning parties, also demanded the scrapping of the Rampal Power plant near Sundarban, no power transit facilities to India and an end to killing by India’s Border Security Force in the frontiers.
Bangladesh has been getting only 10 per cent of the water flow of the Tessta compared with what it was getting in 1973-85 putting the country’s agriculture to serious setback. During first 10 days of March 1973-85 Bangladesh’s share of the Teesta water was 6261 cusec, it was 5887 cusec in the second 10 days and it was 6710 cusecs in the third 10 days of March this year.
The flow was merely 574 cusec in the first 10 days of March this year. The length of the Teesta is 366 KM of which 249 KM in India while the rest 117 KM in Bangladesh. Dr. Zafar Ahmed Khan, secretary, Ministry of Water resources and Irrigation told the media that India has been repeatedly informed of the decline in fall of the Teesta Water flow.
