On Wednesday, April 1, at 10:00 AM, a human chain was held at the city’s Saheb Bazar Zero Point, organized jointly by the Bangladesh Environmental Movement (BAPA) Rajshahi District Committee and the Rajshahi Raksha Sangram Parishad. The demonstration aimed to protect the Rajshahi region from desertification caused by global warming and climate change, and to demand the implementation of the ‘Padma Barrage Construction Project’ as declared in the election manifesto of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
The program was organized under the banner: “Save the Padma River, Save Rajshahi; Ensure the Use of Surface Water; Immediately Implement the North Rajshahi Irrigation Project; Save the Environment, Agriculture, Farmers, and People by Capital Dredging the Padma River.”
At the human chain, speakers stated, “Although Bangladesh is a riverine country, the Padma River in Rajshahi and other rivers across the country are turning into deserts today. During the dry season, there is no water in the Padma; the rivers turn into shoals (chars). Due to the falling water table, farmers are facing extreme disasters in the irrigation system. If we want to stop the cries of the thirsty people of the Barind region, visible and sustainable solutions must be arranged. Both life and nature are stagnant without water. Delaying the tackling of this crisis means pushing a vast population toward permanent disaster. Rajshahi will survive only if the Padma River survives. We demand the immediate implementation of the North Rajshahi Irrigation Project to ensure the use of surface water.”
Present at the human chain were: Mahmud Hossain, President of BAPA Rajshahi District; Jamat Khan, General Secretary of Rajshahi Raksha Sangram Parishad and former President of BAPA Rajshahi; Selina Begum, General Secretary of BAPA Rajshahi; and Md. Jewel Kibria, Vice President of BAPA Rajshahi and Associate Professor of the Bengali Department at Rajshahi College, among others.
