Advisers will visit all flood-hit areas

Adviser for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Syeda Rizwana Hasan today said the advisers of the interim government will visit all the flood-affected areas to help mitigate the plights of flood victims.

“We have decided that the advisers will visit all the flood affected districts,” she said while briefing reporters in front of the chief adviser’s Jamuna office here after a meeting of the council of advisers.

During the meeting, she said, they discussed with utmost importance the country’s flood situation, what the government can do for the flood victims and how it can coordinate with the government agencies, what is the reasons behind the flooding and what the government can do to address floods in the future.

“The person who is responsible for relief activities is going to Feni today to observe flood situation and will coordinate with relief distribution by reaching most flood-affected areas,” Rizwana said.

She said downpour took place in both upstream areas in India and flood-affected areas in the country.

“In such flashfloods, to find scopes to get early warning, the chief adviser will have a meeting with Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka today. The advisers will continue to discuss until flood-affected people are rehabilitated,” the environment adviser said.

During the meeting, she said, they have decided to set up a foundation to care about the injured and families of the dead and injured in the student-people revolution.

“The chief adviser will be the head of the foundation, while the members of affected families will be members of the foundation. The function of the foundation will be to ensure the treatment of the injured and keep the memories of the revolution so that generation to generation can know what happened during the movement. The foundation will be a legal entity,” Rizwana said.

She said they also discussed forming a policy on naming any structure or institution which will be built with public money.

At one stage, it would be brought under a legal framework so that naming any structure reflects the people’s expectation and it does not go in favour of fascism, the adviser said.

“We have, in principle, decided to form a commission on enforced disappearances” she said, adding that it will investigate all those incidents.
Rizwana said the home adviser will sit with other advisers and legal experts to ensure transparency in the legal process being taken to bring those involved in violence and offenses during the revolution.

The meeting also discussed resolving the demands that many people been raising so that their activities do not hamper public life.

She said the advisers stressed taking steps so that foreign fishing vehicles cannot enter the country’s marine territory to catch fish.

Adviser for Information and Broadcasting Nahid Islam urged people from all works of life to come forward to help the flood victims.

He said all must work together to address the flood situation like they got untied during the student-people revolution.

“We have observed that water coming from the upstream areas is deteriorating the flood situation in Bangladesh. Without sending early flood warning to Bangladesh, India has shown its inhumane attitude by opening a dam there,” he said.

Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan and chief adviser’s press secretary Safiqul Alam were present. (BSS)