Standing on the edge of a once-silted canal in northern Bangladesh, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is set to launch a nationwide effort aimed at bringing rivers and canals back to life.
The programme, scheduled to begin Monday morning, will see the government start excavation and re-excavation work on 53 canals across the country in a bid to improve irrigation, strengthen water management and revive canal-based rural economies.
The formal inauguration will take place in the Balarampur Sahapara area of Kaharole in Dinajpur, where the prime minister will launch work on a 12-kilometre canal that has long remained clogged by silt and encroachment.
According to Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Saleh Shibly, Rahman will fly from Dhaka to Saidpur in the morning before travelling by road to the project site to formally start the excavation campaign.
Simultaneous work across the country
Local leaders say the ceremony will symbolically trigger similar work in dozens of locations nationwide.
Saidpur Political District BNP President Abdul Gafur Sarker said the prime minister will inaugurate the nationwide drive by starting the re-excavation of the Sahapara-Balarampur canal, with projects in 53 canals beginning simultaneously across the country.
After the inauguration, Tarique is expected to address a public rally at the site.
The initiative reflects a major pledge of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which promised during the election campaign to revive the country’s fading network of canals to support agriculture and rural livelihoods.
Reviving a canal economy
Many of the canals being revived were originally dug during the tenure of Ziaur Rahman, whose government promoted irrigation canals to expand farming and rural economic activity.
Over the decades, however, many of those waterways have gradually filled with sediment or been partially encroached upon, reducing their usefulness for irrigation and water drainage.
Officials say restoring them could help farmers access water during dry seasons while also easing waterlogging and flooding during heavy rains.
After inspecting the Sahapara-Balrampur canal on Friday, Women and Children and Social Welfare Minister AZM Zahid Hossain said the project alone is expected to benefit around 3,50,000 people.
“The canal will help provide irrigation during the dry season and reduce the risk of excessive flooding during the monsoon,” he said.
Beyond excavation
The government says the initiative will go beyond digging canals.
The programme will be implemented jointly by the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation.
Officials plan to include canal bank protection, small embankments and tree plantation along the waterways as part of the project.
Authorities also aim to introduce more scientific management of canal water so that it can support irrigation, fish farming, duck farming and other local economic activities.
Personal stop in Dinajpur
During the visit, Tarique is also scheduled to make a personal stop at Faridpur graveyard in Dinajpur town, where he will offer prayers at the graves of close relatives, including his grandfather Md Iskander Majumder and grandmother Taiyeba Majumder.
The day’s programme will conclude with the prime minister joining an iftar gathering with local political leaders and community representatives.
For residents of the surrounding villages, however, the canal revival itself may prove the most meaningful event of the day, as communities hope the returning waterways will once again carry not just water, but livelihood.
Source: BSS