The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Shipping on Tuesday suggested the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) to take advice from the Forest Department for taking steps to protect all the river banks in the country.
The parliamentary watchdog came up with the suggestion at its 52nd meeting held at the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) Bhaban with committee Chairman Major (Retd) Rafiqul Islam, Bir Uttam, in the chair.
Committee members Md Mazaharul Hoque Prodhan, Ranajit Kumar Roy, Mahfuzur Rahaman, M Abdul Latif and SM Shahjada joined the meeting, a press release said.
In order to protect all the river banks of Bangladesh, they recommended taking the advice of the Forest Department about what kind of forest and fruit trees will be planted, considering the people and animals alongside ensuring afforestation. They emphasized on taking steps to recover the occupied places concerned to protect all the river banks of Bangladesh.
The meeting recommended BIWTA to formulate policy for management of walkways, which have been built and those under construction in the country, through an inter-ministerial meeting.
The meeting decided to adopt small vessels for riverbed cleaning and reviewed the efficiency and usefulness of grab dredgers.
In the meeting, the implementation progress and implementation problems of the decisions on BIWTA, from the first meeting to the 46th meeting, were reviewed.
