Mentioning that the whole place on both sides of Panthapath was a huge water body, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, "It is unfortunate that this place was a huge water body area. But in the name of development is filled up. As a result, when there was a fire in Bashundhara Bhaban, there is no water to put out the fire. Water has to be fetched from the swimming pool of Hotel Sonargaon.
She was speaking at the inauguration of several development projects from Ganobhaban on Thursday (October 1) morning.
Pani Bhaban at Panthapath in the capital, a mural of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in front of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and the newly constructed head office of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation 'Paryatan Bhaban' inside the airport. Sheikh Hasina also announced the inauguration of the construction work of the project titled Sylhet Osmani International Airport Expansion Project (Phase I). The Prime Minister joined the video conference from Ganobhaban.
Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Ahmed Kaikaus conducted the function at Ganobhaban end.
The Prime Minister outlined various steps for water management during her tenure. He said drinking water was supplied from the upazila to the union level. Most of it is supplied by purifying river water.
Sheikh Hasina said, "In the place where Pani Bhaban is, in fact many people may not have been born here. It is but there was a canal. It has been turned into a box culvert. And the whole place on either side of Panthapath was a vast water body. And right next to it was the site of the Pani Bhavan on Green Road. The most unfortunate thing is that in the name of development, not even a reservoir of this place has been preserved. As a result of which we see that when there is a fire in Bashundhara building, the building that has been built is on the vast water body, there is no water to put out the fire there. The water had to be fetched from Hotel Sonargaon swimming pool.
That is why I have always instructed that no matter what is done in the organization, natural balance must be maintained and measures must be taken to protect nature. And the reservoir needs to be saved. This box culvert formula is the most suicidal in our country. Where water logging occurs, where there is no drainage system and after a while various complications also occur.
Highlighting various initiatives including river dredging and launching of waterways, the Prime Minister said the connection of the West with the East could be the most ideal place for Bangladesh. Father of the Nation always said that he would build Bangladesh as Switzerland. Because the position of Switzerland in Europe, because if you want to go from one side of Europe to the other, you have to go inside Switzerland and the position of Bangladesh and the international air route. We have a lot of potential there. We can take advantage of that. Then on the one hand the tourism industry on the other hand can earn a lot of money from these airlines.
We have passed laws that are appropriate to the laws of the international community, she said so that we can send our planes to different countries of the world. And we have paid special attention to the arrival and departure of other countries' planes in Bangladesh.
There is an agreement with the United States where our planes can go there direct, she said. We have also purchased some modern aircraft. Now we can fly from Dhaka to New York, Dhaka to Toronto, Dhaka to Tokyo so that we can go directly to different countries of the world. So now we have to make an agreement with everyone to improve it and increase air communication.