'Save Vobodaho from waterlogging'

BEI President Farooq Sobhan speaks at a seminar on 'A strategy for combating terrorism in Bangladesh' at the BEI conference room in the city yesterday. On his right are Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and Nazmul Hasan and on his left is Mehboobur Rehman. PHOTO: STAR

Moved by the untold sufferings of around four lakh people in the waterlogged area, Virginia chapter of human rights organisation Drishtipat organised the hour-long human chain on the premises of Central Shaheed Minar in the city, organisers said.

Students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), Dhaka University, North South University and Brac University participated in the programme.

"I was moved reading articles on Vobodaho and came all the way from Virginia, USA to organise the human chain," said Arafat Islam Khan of Virginia Tech University.

The suffering of Vobodaho people started in the 1960s following construction of polders and sluice gates in the region. Following the construction, sedimentation took place only in river channels that ultimately raised the riverbeds compared to the adjacent wetlands. On the other hand, the wetlands subsided due to non-deposition of sediment and in the course of time, a vast area of the region became permanently waterlogged.