Staff Reporter:  Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Md Tajul Islam said, Although water is readily available in riverine Bangladesh, if proper water management is not planned, the water crisis will deepen in the future. The navigability of our various rivers is decreasing because the upstream countries are diverting the natural flow of water for their own needs by building dams thereby reducing the flow of water here to us as a downstream country. Moreover, our population has increased, urbanization is taking place and hence the demand for water is also increasing continuously. In consideration of these circumstances, the minister welcomed the initiative of the master plan for the water supply and management plan of Dhaka city by Dhaka WASA and said that this plan will play an effective role in achieving the sustainable development goals.

He said this while speaking as the chief guest of an event titled "Inception Workshop Updating the Water Supply Master plan for Dhaka City" organized by Dhaka WASA at an elite hotel in Dhaka today.

Engineer Taksin A Khan, Managing director, Dhaka WASA as a president. Muhammad Ibrahim, Secretary of Local Government as a special guest and Prof. Dr. Sujit Kumar Bala was a special guest in the event.

Regarding giving subsidy to a very necessary service like water, the minister said, I have no objection to giving subsidy but we have to take into consideration who is being given subsidy or whether he is eligible for subsidy. Pointing out that the water bill of financially well-off people in Dhaka city should not be the same as the water bill of the residential areas of middle class or lower middle class people, the minister said that the state should give subsidy only to those who do not have that financial capacity.

At that time, the local government minister mentioned Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's plan for a developed Bangladesh by 2041 or the delta plan of 2100. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sets targets before achieving any target and works for it. In line with this, Dhaka WASA is making a master plan for water management and supply for Dhaka city, which is very exciting.

Many issues and problems will emerge from this plan so that it is possible to supply the water needs of Dhaka city in the future.

If the experts' idea that the temperature may increase in the future due to the adverse reaction of climate change is true, then the demand for water in Dhaka city will increase, he said, "we have to prepare a plan to deal with the changing situation."