Hundreds in Satkhira demand safe water

It was a different day for people of Khordo Sheikhpara, a remote village in Tala upazila where hundreds of people including children attended a workshop demanding access to safe drinking water.
The workshop, 'Ensuring Safe Drinking Water', was jointly organised by local NGO, NZ Foundation and Bangladesh NGO Foundation. Held at Khordo Sheikhpara village, the workshop was presided by NZ Foundation executive director Monzur Hossain.
Speakers urged the government to take steps to ensure supply of safe drinking water in the upazila which was severely affected by salinity and arsenic contamination in ground water. They also deplored the successive governments' 'indifference' to resolve the problem.
They said over 10 out of 18 lakh people in the district are facing acute scarcity of pure drinking water due to arsenic contamination in ground water coupled with use of toxic elements in arable lands and discharge of industrial waste in rivers.
They stressed on protecting renewable sources of water of the Kabodak, Betna and Marichchap rivers.
They also said that surface water resources particularly river water have started getting contaminated by pesticides and chemical fertiliser.
They called for creating mass awareness in this regard and strengthening Union Parishad (UP) and other local government bodies to ensure access to usable water for all.