<i>Runners make common pledges</i>

Almost all the candidates of both Awami League-led grand alliance and BNP-led four-party alliance on Sunday pledged that if elected they will take steps to solve waterlogging problems persisting in Tala, Kalaroa and Sadar upazilas, solve safe drinking water crisis and ensure proper distribution of khas land among the landless people.
They made their pledges while receiving memorandum from the Central Water Committee, an organisation floated by the local people to seek their commitments to resolve the issues after winning the polls.
The committee leaders urged the candidates to make pledges for solving waterlogging problems and ensuring proper distribution of khas lands.
“The waterlogging problem has been aggravated over the years due to declining flow of the Ganges, depositing of silt in the river beds of Kabodak, Betna, Shalikha, Chuna, Malanchi and Marichchap, construction of unplanned coastal embankments and shrimp cultivation,” the memorandum stated.
“The people of Shyamnagar, Kalaroa, Assassuni, Kaliganj, Tala and Debhata upazilas in Satkhira district have been facing acute crisis of safe drinking water for long,” it added.
“There are several thousand acres of khas land in the district but most the khas lands are under the occupation of influential land grabbers due to lack of proper distribution policy,” said the memorandum.
The candidates while receiving their respective copy put their signatures on the memorandum and said if they are elected they will take measures to solve the problems on priority basis.
The candidates who received the memorandum are AL-led grand alliance candidates Engineer Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Dr AFM Ruhul Haque, M A Jabbar and Golam Reza of Jatiya Party (JP) and BNP-led 4-party alliance candidates Habibul Islam Habib, Maulana Abdul Khaleque, Maulana Riasat Ali and Gazi Nazrul Islam.