GAIBANDHA, Dec 10, 2019 (BSS) – Satani Sadekpur village under Sahapara
union of Sadar upazila in the district was declared as improved cook stove
(ICS) model one.
A simple function was also held on Monday at the village where deputy
director of local government section Rokhsana Begum addressed as the chief
guest and executive engineer of Department of Public Health Engineering
(DPHE) Aminul Islam Chowdhury spoke as the special guest.
Executive director of Sinnomul Mohila Samity (SMS) Murshedur Rahman Khan
presided over the event while project coordinator of SMS Mahamudunnabi Lipon
was the moderator.
The function was also addressed, among others, by value chain specialist
of Practical Action Bangladesh (PAB) Shaibal Barua, female councilor of local
union parishad Rahima Khatun, ICS user Selina Khatun, change agent Johney
Sheikh and journalists Abu Jafar Sabu and Sarker M. Shahiduzzaman.
Value chain specialist Shaibal Barua described the benefits of ICS using
elaborately and said all the 241 families of the village were brought under
cent percent ICS using programme.
In technical support of PAB, SMS implemented the programme at the
village under a project of Promotion of ICS and Creating Economic Opportunity
for Adolescent Girls and Boys while UNICEF and DPHE of the government
provided the fund, he also said.
The project is being implemented at 12 villages under Sahapara,
Ballamjhar and Ramchandrapur unions of Sadar upazila and 20 students of 10
high schools were working as change agents and earning economical profit for
promoting the ICS to the housewives, he added.
ICS user Selina Khatun said the ICS created no smoke in the kitchen,
increased energy efficiency and saved fuel by 50 percent compared to
traditional stoves leading to saving of money, less time for collection of
fire wood as well as less time for cooking.
Chief guest Rokhsana Begum said the ICS was playing significant role in
saving fuel, reducing carbon in the environment and preventing air pollution
side by side with improving the cooking efficiency and mitigating health
hazards.
So, the DD urged the authorities concerned to educate the housewives in
both rural and urban areas of the district for proper usage of ICS to make
the ICS more popular to them and achieve the sustainable development goals of
the government by 2030.
Later, the chief guest formally declared Satani Sadekpur as ICS model
village which is the first in the country through unveiling a signboard and
then, witnessed the cooking of the housewives with ICS at the village.