The National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways on Saturday demanded that the Ichhamati River Rejuvenation project in Pabna be revised and condemned the ‘bizarre proposal’ of the Water Resources Ministry for increasing the width of the river by acquiring land of local people instead of evicting the encroachers.
Mohammad Shahid Mia, president of the organisation and its general secretary Ashis Kumar Dey made this demand in a statement.
Besides, they also demanded that the final approval of the project should not be given without excluding proposals like ‘unnecessary extra expenditure’ in various sectors, including bridge construction.
Otherwise, public funds will be wasted and looted in the name of river restoration and illegal occupiers on the riverbanks will be legitimized, the leaders of the national committee alleged.
According to the statement, the Ministry of Water Resources sent a project proposal titled 'Rejuvenation of Ichhamati River in Pabna District' to the Planning Commission. The project will be implemented by the Water Development Board.
The project cost for digging the 33.72 km long river has been estimated at 1735.16 lakh. Out of this, the acquisition of 160 hectares of land has been estimated at a cost of Tk 529 crore.
Besides, the Ministry of Water Resources also proposed demolishing 22 old bridges on the river and construction of 23 new bridges.
Citing information published in the media, the National Committee said that in the 2019 survey, the number of illegal occupants of the Ichamati River was 1651.
Instead of evicting these encroachers and their illegal structures, the Ministry of Water Resources has proposed to dig the river and increase its width by acquiring agricultural land of the locals, said the statement.
Such proposals are unrealistic and not acceptable at all, said the leaders of the organisation.
Besides, the National Committee has claimed that the Ministry of Water Resources is not responsible for the construction of 23 bridges on the Ichhamati River and they have no capacity.
According to the statement, there are the High Court’s verdict and Prime Minister’s directives for excavating the river as per the CS map.
However, the project proposal bypasses the CS map by acquiring land and digging the river. Such initiatives are a violation of the High Court judgment and the Prime Minister's directives, the statement added.
