International affairs expert Dr Imtiaz Ahmed has said there is still room for cooperation on Teesta River water allocation and it cannot be resulted in a zero-sum game. "The solution should come keeping in mind the human and nature-based perspective," said the professor at the Department of International Relations, Dhaka University on Saturday. He said this while delivering his speech on the last day of the three-day virtual 7th International Water Conference titled ‘Teesta River Basin: Overcoming the Challenges’ organised by ActionAid Bangladesh.  READ: Annual hydrological assessment needed to resolve Teesta water sharing: Ainun Nishat Dr Imtiaz said it is time to come out from an engineering perspective in river water governance.   Farah Kabir, Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh said people live with rivers, but they were not included in river-related discourse. The idea for establishing a Water Museum in Kalapara, Patuakhali came from the inclusion of community people in the discourse and the first-ever community-based Water Museum in South Asia was established in 2014 by ActionAid Bangladesh, she said.   The Water Museum now has become a hub for idea generation, voice of river-based grassroots people, educational platform, and networking with global water museums, said Farah Kabir.  Dr Eriberto Eulisse, Executive Director of the Global Network of Water Museums, said the Teesta River is a symbol of changes like other rivers. "Cooperation and good practices are needed to resolve any kind of water-related resources dispute.”  While developing any water museum, he said, they should not only keep in mind about the infrastructural development but also on the cultural landscape. Former Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said in the ‘negotiative’ world, they can find a better way of collaboration regarding the Teesta water allocation. “There’s need to have more interactions between the international stakeholders, people and the political leaders. Narratives also should be different considering climate change,” he added.  Shahidul Haque laid emphasis on a change in mindset and framing of policymakers from a broader people-centric frame rather than government-centric frame.  Rahima Sultana Kajal, Executive Director, Association of Voluntary Actions for Society (AVAS), and Member of General Assembly ActionAid International Bangladesh Society in her presentation showed how Water Museum in Kalapura, Patuakhali, established by ActionAid Bangladeshis working as a medium of upholding right of the marginal people.  READ: Hasina seeks fair share of Teesta water “River-centric civilisation is being jeopardised as a result of obstructing the flow of rivers.  Due to the so-called development, river water is not being distributed evenly which has resulted in shortage of usable water. The existing laws on river water usage are not being properly enforced,” said Rahima Sultana Kajal. Dr Shashwata Bhattacharjee, Head, Bangla Department Kaunia College, said if the river dies, the community people's lives centering the river also die. "If that community 's life is detached from the river-centered livelihood, then the thousand-year-old cherished culture is also ruined." Ajaya Dixit, Advisor, ISET-Nepal ; Dr. Sara Ahmed, Adjunct Professor, Centre for Water Research, IISER-Pune (Indian Institute for Science Education and Research), Founder-Director, Living Waters Museum, Shamim Arfeen, Executive Director, AOSED also discussed in the last day of the water conference.  

Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Wednesday alleged that the country’s medical system is not improving as expected since a big part of the budgetary allocation made for the health sector is being plundered. “The Covid situation is getting worse day by day. The lack of medicines and necessary manpower, including doctors and nurses, has become acute in hospitals. Many district- and upazila-level hospitals don’t have (central) oxygen systems, contributing to the gradual rise in fatality rate,” he said. The Jatiya Party chief said, “The country is facing such a terrible corona situation due to the government’s negligence. When many countries in the world spend 5 to 6 percent of their GDP on medical care, we spend only one percent. But a huge portion of the allocation in the health sector is being looted. So, our medical system is not improving.” He made the remarks while inaugurating a food distribution programme at Jatiya Party’s Kakrail office on the eve of party founder HM Ershad’s second death anniversary. Jatiya Party Dhaka south city unit arranged the programme to distribute food among 10,000 needy people. READ: Lack of vaccines making Covid situation worse: GM Quader GM Quader, also the deputy opposition leader in parliament, said their party has long been talking about improving the health care system in the country.  “We need to improve our medical system instead of enforcing a lockdown to tackle the Covid situation.” He said the government must provide each of the genuine poor families with at least Tk 10,000 per month during the Covid period without considering their political identities. “Had this been, then the needy people wouldn’t have had to come out of homes and thus the lockdown would have been effective.” The Jatiya Party chairman said the government can give good support to the unemployed people by spending only one percent of the GDP. “We had repeatedly urged the government to ensure food and necessary medicines for the poor before enforcing the lockdown.” He demanded the government introduce a palli (rural) rationing system for the extremely poor people. Quader said the government is just making assurances that the necessary vaccines will be collected. “But they can't say when it’ll come, how it’ll come, or from where it’ll come. That’s why there's a frustration among people about corona vaccines.” He said when the entire world is tackling corona with vaccines, Bangladesh is trying to contain it with a lockdown. “It can never be a logical move.” The Jatiya Party chief alleged that people are not getting proper treatment at public hospitals. “Corona patients from districts and upazilas are crowding divisional cities and the capital. As beds are not available at public hospitals, patients are being forced to receive treatment at private hospitals spending huge money. Those who don’t have money are losing their loved ones, including parents without treatment. We never wanted such a horrible situation in the country.” READ: GM Quader greets PM ahead of Eid ul Azha Jatiya Party Senior Co-Chairman Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Secretary General Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, and Co-Chairmen Syed Abu Hossain Babla MP and Mujibul Haque Chunnu MP, among others, spoke at the programme.