Lawmaker stages demo in House demanding dam

Ruling Awami League MP SM Shahjada yesterday wrote "no more demands; don't want relief, just a dam" on a placard and hung it from his neck inside the House chamber in the hope that he would be heard.

This is the first time in living memory that a lawmaker protested in the Jatiya Sangsad in such a way, sources in parliament told this paper.

The MP from Patuakhali-3, taking the floor during the discussion on the budget, said he went to his constituency with relief materials after the recent cyclone and he had to face the people's wrath.

"The locals do not want relief, they want a permanent solution to embankments in their coastal areas," he said.

Shahjada said other MPs of coastal areas had to deal with the similar situation.

At the end of his speech, he put the placard around his neck.

Due to cyclone Yaas, around 38 villages of coastal upazila Koyra in Khulna went under water after the flood protection embankment there was breached in at least 21 points.

The upazila suffered the similar damage during cyclones Aila, Sidr, and Amphan.

Every time, hundreds of houses, fish enclosures, farmland, roads and other structures got damaged as the region became submerged.

Even though locals raised their voices on several occasions, there was no solution.

On June 1, when lawmaker of Khulna-6 Akhteruzzman went to Dashalia area of Maharajpur union in Koyra, locals were mending an embankment. They became  angry seeing the MP and at one point hurled mud at him.