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Govt ‘harassing’ Zia family: BNP
ARUN BIKASH DEY, Ctg
The Halda river, the country’s largest natu-
ral breeding ground for carps, has been
under constant threat due to manmade
hazards, including industrial waste, sewage
contamination and sand extraction.
The situation has gotten worse owing
to a rapid increase in tobacco farming
near the river in recent years, which
threatens the unique biochemical prop-
erties of the water that supports the
existence of these fish.
Also, setting up of a rubber dam on
the river’s upstream disrupts its natural
flow.
This season, carps have released an
their continuing existence.
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
BNP Senior Joint Secretary
General Rizvi Ahmed yester-
day criticised the govern-
ment for “targeting Zia’s
family members”, saying it
wants to destroy the nation-
alist forces deliberately.
Zia’s family members are
being harassed, he added.
R i z v i s a i d B N P
Chairperson Khaleda Zia is
being forced to appear before
court twice a week. “It is
nothing but an outcome of
politics of vengeance by the
chief of the government.”
He was addressing a press
conference at the party’s
Nayapaltan central office in
Dhaka.
The BNP leader slammed
the government for giving
India corridor facilities in
the name of transit.
“An attempt is on to turn
our government institutions
into extensions of that of the
neighbouring country,” he
said, adding, “As a result,
political, financial and
cultural aggression in
Bangladesh has taken a
serious turn.”
biochemical properties of its water,
carps choose it as a safe haven to release
spawns there.
were collected in 2011 while the
amount was 354kg in 2012, 70kg in
2013, 275kg in 2014, 47kg in 2015,
and 12kg in 2016.
cantly from that of the Department of
Fisheries (DoF), according to which,
326kg of spawns were collected in 20 1 ,
1,569kg in 2012, 612kg in 2013, 508kg in
2014, 156kg in 2015 and 168kg in 2016.
The Daily Star talked to some spawn
collectors to get a clear picture of the
discrepancy between the data collected
by the researchers and DoF.
Kamal Uddin Sawdagaor has been
involved in collecting spawns for
around 45 years. He said although carps
released spawns three times last year
Picture Library Ltd and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute