The National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways on Sunday demanded the government cancel a project aimed at reducing the width of the river Jamuna without any study.

The organisation's president Mohammad Shahid Mia and its general secretary Ashis Kumar Dey made the demand in a statement on Sunday.

The leaders of the group said in the statement that the project proposal made by the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) to reduce the width of the Jamuna river to 6.5 kilometres  from 15 kilometres is “unscientific and absurd.”

The statement said if such “an ill-fated project” is implemented on such a large river major natural disasters may occur in the near future.

The National Committee also said in the statement that if the project is implemented without proper research, there will be no water flow in many places of the river and ground water level will drop in those areas. At the same time, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, livelihood and ecology may be affected. 

The downstream environment of Jamuna and other structures including the Padma Bridge and the Jamuna Bridge may be adversely affected, it said.  

It is noted that the Water Development Board has prepared a project proposal of Tk 1,110 crore to reduce the width of the Jamuna river. 

The Ministry of Water Resources has already sent the proposed project titled 'Sustainable Infrastructure for Jamuna River Bank Protection and Risk Mitigation' to the Planning Commission.