Nurur Rahman Selim, president of Green Club of Bangladesh, and Haji Mohammad Shahid Mia, president of National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways, made the call in a joint statement.
Only 49 percent work of a nine-year project was completed in the last seven and a half years while 65 percent allocation of money has already been spent, the statement claimed.
Quoting several media reports, the green activists said the government approved a 24-river route dredging project in 2012 and gave Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority Tk 1,923 crore for restoring 2,386-km waterway between July 2012 and June 2021.
But the BIWTA restored only 1,180-km waterway in the last seven and a half years spending Tk 1,257 crore, including Tk 200 crore in the ongoing fiscal year, the statement said.
Though the project is one of the priority ones of the Prime Minister, the rate of implementation is not satisfactory due to BIWTA officials’ irregularities and corruption, the leaders alleged.