The southwest costal area included Satkhira, Bagerhat and Khulna is a most disaster prone area of Bangladesh. As the closest area to the coast, the amount of salinity in the area is increasing every year due to the tidal surge and high tide pressure. Suffering of the coastal people has not been leaving since long. Under the financial support of Bread for the World, LEDARS and Sundarbans and Coastal Protection Movement organized the Meet the Press titled ‘Sustainable embankments and urgent action needed to protect disaster-prone coasts’ at the Auditoriam of Dhaka Reporters Unit. Nikhil Chandra Bhadra, Coordinator of the Sundarbans and Coastal Protection Movement, presided over the event. Parliament of Member (MP), Akhtaruzzaman Babu, Khulna-6 presented the keynote in this discussion. Bangladesh Environment Movement (BAPA) Joint Secretary Mihir Biswas, Dhaka Reporters Unity President Morsalin Nomani, Unnayan Dhara Trust Member Secretary Aminur Rasul Babul, National Committee for Protection of Waterways and Railways Ashish Kumar Dey, Scan General Secretary Moniruzzaman Mukul, Sachetan, Saiful Islam of LEDARS, Sheikh Abdullah-Al Mamun, Citizen Representative, Advocate Sabyasachi Mandal, Newton Kumar Roy and others took part in this discussion.
The six demands were raised at the event, saying the south-west coastal region along the Sundarbans has to be declared a disaster risk area and immediate steps should be taken to repair the embankments at risk; Permanent and strong embankments have to be built; Local government needs to be involved in the formation of emergency funds for dam maintenance and dam management; The government’s has to ban on the construction of shrimp or crab enclosures within 100 meters of the Water Development Board (WAPDA) embankment needs to be implemented immediately. Effective steps need to be taken for sustainable and sustainable solution of safe drinking water of coastal people. Above all, it is recommended to form a separate board for coastal development.
