Environment, Forest, Climate Change, and Water Resources Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan today spoke at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka. Photo : BSS

DHAKA, Sept 6, 2025 (BSS) – Environment, Forest, Climate Change, and Water Resources Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan today urged the people to remain aware and united to protect water bodies.

“Restoring water bodies is not a difficult task if there is a legal framework, political will, and administrative cooperation,” she told a city dialogue and best award ceremony at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital, said a press release.

Urban Development Journalist Forum organized the programme titled "Dhaka Water Body Restoration and Potential".

Noting that there is no alternative to restoring water bodies, Rizwana said Dhaka will survive if water bodies are saved.

Dhaka residents are reaping the benefits of the work that has begun to restore Dhaka's canals, she said adding that this time, and Dhaka’s water logging was less during the monsoon season compared to previous years.

Rizwana said the Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka has been allocated money from the Climate Trust Fund to restore 40 ponds.

She said the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) of Dhaka has been amended to make no distinction between general water bodies, and water bodies cannot be filled in any way.

The Haor Protection Act has been finalized, and there are instructions on how agricultural work will be done in haors and how houseboats will operate, she said.
Matin Abdullah, President of the Urban Development Journalist Forum, chaired the programme.

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Urban and Regional Planning Department’s Professor Md. Mosleh Uddin Hasan, architect Sujaul Islam Khan, former president of the Press Club Kamal Uddin Sabuj, former chief engineer of Dhaka South City Corporation Md. Nurullah, among others, also spoke.