Home ›› 27 Nov 2021 ›› News
Increasing youth engagement to raise public awareness among the future generation is the key to ensure that the country’s rivers would be protected in the upcoming days, speakers said at an event on Friday.
Urging the countrymen, especially the young generation, to come forward to save the river Buriganga, the environmentalists and some prominent personalities also urged the government to take immediate steps to save all the rivers from a “slow-burning death”.
They came up with such a call while addressing a cycle rally at the capital on the occasion of The Buriganga River Festival-2021.
Apart from a cycle rally, “dingy’ boat race competition, mime and painting for children were also arranged by the Waterkeepers Bangladesh and the regional entity of Waterkeeper Alliance to save the rivers.
The organizers also hoped that the people, who live beside the rivers, would be encouraged to save their rivers after such an arrangement.
Addressing the rally, Waterkeepers Bangladesh Coordinator Sharif Jamil said, “We must protect all the rivers from all kinds of pollution and raising awareness among the mass-people is also crucial to make the river safe.”
The city dwellers, especially the youth, must come forward to make the rivers pollution-free, he added.
Dr. Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder, chairman of the department of Environmental Science at Stamford University said, “Those who are health conscious, they don’t only ride cycles but they are also environment conscious.”
“Like the cyclists, other sections of the people should also come forward to protect the rivers’’, he added.
Actor and film director Nader Chowdhury said, “As I am a dweller of Dhaka city, I would like to ride cycle along the river Buriganga, which I used to do in the past. If the people come forward to stop the river's pollution, the artists’ community will certainly join the movement.”
The program included-cycle rally from Manik Mia Avenue to Bosila government primary school at 8.30 am, painting competition on rivers for children at the same school at 10.30 am, “dingy” boat race competition among the boatmen of Buriganga river at 11.30 am.
