<i>Rally round Sundarbans</i>

“Have you voted for the Sundarbans yet?” rickshaw puller Idris Ali asked the owner of a makeshift tea stall near New Market.
The forty-something tea-stall owner, Soleman Mia, who was fiddling with his mobile phone, shook his head with a “no”.
Idris, who had stopped at the place in mid-noon for a break yesterday, put down his half-finished cup of tea and showed Soleman how he could vote for the Sundarbans through SMS to make it become one of the “new seven wonders of nature” in the world.
“There isn't much time left,” Idris said as he leaned towards his seat. “Tell everyone at your home to vote. Tomorrow [today] is the last day.”
To vote for the Sundarbans, one needs to type SB and send it to 16333 from any mobile operator. Organiser of the event, Swiss-based New Seven Wonders Foundation, will acknowledge the vote through a return message.
Votes can also be cast through http://www.new7wonders.com/vote-2.
The initiative is the first of its kind where a global voting is taking place to pick the new wonders of nature.
A day before the closing of votes today, chances of the Sundarbans becoming a natural wonder were widely discussed yesterday among people of all walks of life.
Urging people to vote, last-minute promotional campaigns were in full swing with a number of discussions and rallies across the city.
Around the same time yesterday, a bookstore clerk at Nilkhet was seen asking the clerk of the adjacent store to vote for the Sundarbans, a group of students walked by talking about who cast how many votes while a middle-aged man was enquiring his friend over the phone whether he voted yet.
Campaigners say it is the “one and only opportunity” to turn a Bangladeshi turf into a wonder of the world, and put it on the list of top exciting sites globally.
The voting scope ends at 5:00pm today, following which the new wonders would be announced, according to the organiser.
“For anyone who has seen the mangrove forest, it goes without saying that the Sundarbans deserves to be an international wonder,” said Dhaka University (DU) Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique at a discussion yesterday.
It is up to the countrymen to confer the Sundarbans what it deserves, he said at a discussion urging everyone to vote till time runs out.
Seven Wonders Foundation of Bangladesh, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Khulna Zilla Samity and First Security Islami Bank jointly organised the programme at the DU Teacher-Student Centre (TSC).
State Minister for Environment and Forest Hasan Mahmud, DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed, Chief Conservator of Forests Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad, and Roads and Highways Department Chief Engineer Abdul Kuddus, among others, spoke.
Asking all to vote for the Sundarbans, they insisted that the message be passed around to everyone.
Some quarters around the world, however, criticise the move by labelling it as a private initiative. They allege the organisers are making money out of it.
“The Miss Universe contest is also a private initiative,” Hasan Mahmud said in response to the criticisms. “Forget about a triumph; won't you feel proud if someone from this country competes in the Miss Universe contest?”
If the Sundarbans makes the cut as a new wonder, image of the country will be uplifted. It would make more tourists visit Bangladesh and would fetch financial benefits, he said.