Prime Minister Tarique Rahman reached Saidpur Airport on Monday morning on his way to Dinajpur to inaugurate a nationwide canal excavation and re-excavation programme.

The Prime Minister left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 9:30am on a domestic flight and reached Saidpur Airport around 10:15am, said his Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Rumon.

From the airport, Rumon said the Prime Minister will travel by road to Balrampur Sahapara area in Kaharole upazila of Dinajpur.

He said Tarique Rahman will formally inaugurate the nationwide Canal Excavation and Re-excavation Programme-2026 by re-excavating the Sahapara canal, marking the start of simultaneous activities across the country.

The Prime Minister is also scheduled to address a public meeting at Sahapara around 12:30pm.

It is Tarique Rahman’s first visit outside the capital since assuming office as Prime Minister on February 17.

After introducing the Family Card programme, the government is now launching the canal excavation programme to fulfil another election pledge of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The Prime Minister will offer fateha at the graves of his grandfather Md Iskander Majumder, grandmother Taiba Majumder and aunt Khurshid Jahan Haque at Sheikh Farid Model Graveyard on the outskirts of Dinajpur town.

In the evening, he will attend an iftar gathering and a views-exchange meeting with distinguished guests and political leaders at Dinajpur Circuit House at 5:00pm before returning to Dhaka by air at night.

Security forces have taken extensive measures ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit, while the occasion has created huge enthusiasm among BNP leaders, activists, farmers and people from different walks of life in Dinajpur.