Developing plans for development

Development planning plays a critical and influential role in sustainable development. Just as work originates from thought, the identity of a tree is the result of it, so it can be said that only if there is a combination of goodwill in meaningful development between the objectives and regulations of the plan, the development will be beneficial. If we think in this way, if there is a defect or limitation in the visionary plan of a nation, if there is any deviation due to lack of suitable materials, then the development can be diverted.

Let’s have a look at the economy of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a land of rivers, an agricultural country, and a country of fruit crops. The people of this country are calm, and they fight when necessary. Otherwise, they are always peaceful. After the independence of the country, Bangabandhu and those who fought our liberation war understood the issue in 1972, because they understood it, they first set their minds on framing the constitution - because they were aware that the debate on creating a regime in Pakistan in 24 years would not last their unity in the end.

So, first, the issues of fundamental rights were seriously included in the governance system. Bangladesh could have progressed further if the state management and plans had continued in that exact manner. Bangabandhu spoke about the Green Revolution at that time, but Bangladesh did not follow that path, because the first five-year plan that was taken after the independence of Bangladesh was very clear about where the country and the economy would go. But the then Central Planning Commission took the matter in a different direction. One of the reasons was that all of them were all educated either from Russia or similar countries and they wanted to lead the country to socialism or something like that. But due to various reasons, the situation went differently. Later other problems arose. A riverine country, an agricultural country, will have rivers, it will build ports, cities, and towns in the basin, generate electricity by damming the flowing river, will be nourished by eating river fish, will produce crops on both sides of the river - but in the eighties, the government that came to power, was focusing more on getting rid of the discredit of being an 'illegal government'. The policymakers suggested seeking help from abroad. You cannot build infrastructure by keeping the country's resources in the country. It won't help remove your illegal status or negative image, and you won't be able to accelerate development. The government then resorted to foreign aid and did so in such a way that 102 percent of Bangladesh's ADP in that decade was implemented by foreign aid.

As a result, at that time, the initiative of the NBR and the tax department to collect taxes from the people by taking them to the sources of income was not done at all. Meanwhile, in the name of giving and receiving foreign aid, the major foreign aid donor countries agreed to provide loans and even grants. But there were certain conditions for that which included roads will be built, bridges will be built, and agricultural land will be used to build these infrastructures, canal bills will be filled. Accordingly, many roads were built. The construction of the road means that the water flow of the rivers, and canals are all blocked. As a result, it was seen that the rivers are slowly filling up and the rivers are not being rehabilitated. As a result, sudden rains are causing flooding, the natural balance is being destroyed and the number of natural disasters is increasing due to climate change to build more roads. Everyone rushed towards that road, people no longer wanted to travel by waterways. As a result, we have seen an increase in interest in the river and the negligence of the responsibility of protecting the navigability of the river. Foreigners helped in road construction because they wanted to develop a road-oriented country with a lot of vehicles. Car exporters want people to use more cars, but the economy of car riding has turned its head to achieve its power. This means that many roads are built, and agricultural land is destroyed. The water flow of rivers, canals and streams was destroyed. And the people of the village very easily rushed to the city because the communication system has improved and there is no need to focus on village development. The families of the officers live in the metropolis, their children do not study or receive medical treatment in the city of Mofswal. The disruption that filled the mind of the policymakers in formulating environment-friendly plans is that the need to take care of rivers in riverine countries and agricultural countries has disappeared.

It was possible to do everything in the riverine country in the past with the existing system of transport communication that was quiet, compact and healthy. Now the road consumes expensive fuel and often the number of casualties in accidents is high. Can anyone hear the tears of the river when a car monopolist exclaims in vain advice 'An accident is the cry of a lifetime'? When hundreds of bridges are opened, the small rivers are burnt, the rivers dry up and the navigability is lost. Modern and a greater number of ferries without building bridges to keep the rivers navigable will save the environment and save fuel oil. As planners and policymakers can calculate, the internal rate of return for using the river route is higher than that of the road-bridge route. Bangladesh fell into a geo-political gap while demanding a share of the water trapped in Farakka to move the water of the international river Ganges upstream. India constructed the Farakka Dam with a loan from the World Bank, but they could not implement it during the United Pakistan period because strategically Pakistan would harm them by damming the Indus River. Pakistan then blocked the construction of the Farakka Dam on the Ganges River in India by saying such things. It was not that if India withheld water in Farakka, poor East Pakistan would suffer, instead of thinking that it would suffer, Pakistan thought that blocking India in any way would hamper their development and facilitate negotiations with India and Pakistan. After the independence of Bangladesh, the issue of water distribution of the Ganga reached a very delicate situation. India opened the experimental Farakka Dam for a week in 1972, but it never stopped, water sharing did not happen until 1996 when the sharing took place, Bangladesh's river basin was poor and there was no water flow upstream of Farakka. In 1976, Maulana Bhasani made a long march towards Farakka. This was the first and last political protest on behalf of Bangladesh on that issue.

The upstream impoundment of India's Farakka and Teesta rivers has reduced downstream agrarian Bangladesh to desert-like environmental conditions. As a result of the withdrawal of water upstream of the international river Ganges, the Pramatta Padma River in Bangladesh has lost navigability during the dry season, communication has been destroyed, and even the tributaries of the Padma and Teesta (which cover about 65 percent of Bangladesh's territory) have been dried up and filled up during the monsoon season. Abnormal water flow threatens the biodiversity of these areas and creates inhuman flood conditions. The water management system under the GK and Teesta Irrigation Project, despite the Ganga water sharing agreement and pending Teesta agreement, the estimated water does not meet during the dry season and large areas are flooded with abnormal water flow during the full monsoon. Ganga barrage projects are sometimes heard but they are not actually implemented. As a result, the agricultural economy of Bangladesh is gradually going bankrupt. Due to the reduction of freshwater flow of Madhumati or other rivers, the salty water of Sundarbans has come up further and the whole of Sundarbans and the southwest region are facing a terrible natural disaster. India-Bangladesh joint investment coal power plant has been started in the area adjacent to the Sundarbans of Bangladesh, despite not getting permission to establish a power plant in the area adjacent to the Sundarbans of India.

The Sundarbans have become much smaller; I have edited a book on the Sundarbans. I saw there that the number of tigers in the Sundarbans, which is one-third of India's share, has increased and the number of tigers has decreased in the last few decades, which is two-thirds of Bangladesh. The impact of Farakka has led to the destruction of the natural protective shield of the Sundarbans, the destruction of waterways and ports in West Bengal and premature and unusual floods in Assam and Bihar. When Farakka emerged as a geopolitical issue causing natural disasters, Bangladesh signed a bilateral agreement on the distribution of water from the international river Ganges and lost the opportunity to attract the attention of the international community and negotiate. The political decision has calmed the protest about the bad effect of Ganga-Teesta on the entire environmental situation of Bangladesh, but now there are demands from Assam, Bihar and other states and regions of India itself to dismantle the Farakka, because the Farakka accumulates silt there. What I am trying to say in this context is that nature is becoming vindictive in the absence of visionary planning. Bangladesh's role in dealing with diplomatic and geopolitical issues is becoming weak due to the lack of proper and visionary planning. Due to these reasons, if Bangladesh cannot take an environment-friendly plan in harmony with nature or delay it, it will have to pay the price from generation to generation. Although it may not seem harmful on the face of it, or it may seem normal now that as the road connectivity is improving, the infrastructure to go anywhere is being developed, everything seems fine for the time being, but in the end, the dream of self-reliance of Bangladesh's culture and economy is losing its effectiveness. As it can be said very specifically that a lot of bridges are being built, where are the bridges being built? These are constructed on the rivers. Bridges are built over rivers, and no matter how they are built, it is seen that there is an obstruction in the flow of river water. The water flow of these small and big rivers is stopping. And for the ease of crossing over the bridge, people are becoming oblivious to the river or canal below.

They are slowly disappearing due to neglect. If this were the case here, if there were enough ferries instead of bridges, if there was a system of fast and smooth crossing, then how can the waterway be navigable, the attention on the river would increase. On the one hand, the water flow is affected by the construction of bridges, on the other hand, the attention of the state towards canals, fish reservoirs, and irrigation reservoirs is decreasing. To get cheap popularity, the government of Bangladesh has borrowed a lot, but many bridges are being built as foreigners are giving money to build these bridges so that the bridge is built quickly, and that money is being smuggled and going abroad. It is very good that Comilla-Chittagong traffic has increased, but after the construction of the bridge, the indifference to the environmentally friendly waterways, rivers and railways has increased. Upstream of the Meghna, Surma, Kushiara are getting lost and flooded. As a result of the flooding of these rivers in Sylhet recently, they will continue to occur and cause more problems. Let me give one more example, a very real example. Within a month of my joining the Planning Commission as a Member (Physical Infrastructure), a project came up, the Hatirjheel project. It is said that there will be a big flyover from Rampura to Sonargaon Hotel link road. By taking the flyover from Sonargaon Hotel, everyone can easily travel directly to Rampura, which will reduce traffic jams in Moghbazar and adjacent areas. But we immediately asked the question, if there is a flyover over the lake, what will happen to the rotten water of the lake below it? They said it will stay that way. That is, whenever I build a flyover above, then the water below is not important, so no one will pay any attention to it.

As a result, the lake will die. Hatirjheel's one-time connection with Dhanmondi Lake, Hatirpool canal, Dholai canal and many other water bodies have disappeared. At that time the advisor who looked after the Ministry of Works or physical infrastructure was the late Anwarul Iqbal. He and we immediately said, no it won't be. Environmentalists say that we should have a water reservoir in Dhaka city, our canal was connected to that lake in Dhanmondi. It falls into the Balu River on that bank through Gulshan, Banani, Begunbari. Thus, there were canals during the Mughal period and British period. In the 1980s, the government cut off the connection with Dhanmondi with the storm water project and built the road over Panthpath, the canal of Hatirpul next to Hatirjheel was also closed. The road went over Dholaikhal. Many roads were built over those rivers and canals, ie the canals were completed. As much as a city should have a water reservoir in Dhaka city, that balance has been lost long ago. We said about Hatirjheel that, if necessary, dig more in the reservoir to keep this water. Close all the drains from Moghbazar and other areas here. Close them and make a whole water reservoir. Make a circular road from all sides with that soil, make a walkway and a fence of trees, then people will be able to breathe a sigh of relief here, the water will also be good. People will be able to travel in light boats on the lake of Totalle water. The lake will remain and gradually it will extend to Gulshan II. In just 20/25 days, BUET's engineers came up with a design as beautiful as we thought. I still salute their creativity and dedication. The Hatirjheel project was passed by ECNEC only 3 months after solving the complications related to land ownership on the lake and all its banks. Under the supervision of the Bangladesh Army, 80% of the project could be completed during the neutral government.

Although some work is still left to be done as planned, everyone is now enjoying the benefits of the opening of Hatirjheel. But there is a plan, it will go up to Gulshan 2, from Gulshan people will come down to Moghbazar by boat. This will greatly reduce the traffic on the upper road. Another is that a multi-directional road to Rampura, Moghbazar will be created, we are looking at that opportunity now to see if it is beautiful. There was another plan, to create an intimate yet separate sanctuary there. The birds of Dhaka city will be able to live quietly and quietly. Making that forest has also been started. Trees have been planted there. If a flyover had been made over the Jheel at that time, only because of limited visibility, a flyover might have been but the aesthetic environment that surrounds them now would not have been there. It is necessary to investigate why the project that was taken to build waterways around Dhaka city could not be implemented due to land grabbing. Everyone needs conscious attention towards developing development. In this regard, even after 5 decades of independence, we still must be prudent in planning. We will take such projects which do not endanger the environment but help in maintaining the balance of the environment. The general position of the people should be maintained, and there should be provision for fish-rice or agriculture. As it is said no land shall be kept out of cultivation. At the same time, not only the land has to be kept aside, but three crops must be grown in one land. If this could not be done, we would not be able to be self-sufficient in food even after the population has increased almost two and a half times in 2022 as compared to 1972. Here again, we are using a lot of pesticides to strengthen agriculture for human food needs. We would not have to use them if our arable lands were in the same condition as before.

If there was water from natural irrigation systems and communication systems were normal, we might not have to depend on pesticides so much. The risk of endangering the public interest in the use of pesticides will increase. We must depend on fuel for our roads to build a lot of roads, and when the world market turns away from supplying that precious fuel, we face a kind of crisis. They wouldn't have been so bad if we could have kept the waterways good. Then the dependence on roads could be reduced as an alternative. Because as many roads are built, the use of cars will increase, motorcycles will increase, and many things will increase. If we calculate every day, an average of 30/50 people are getting injured on the road. Along with this damage is the fossil fuel that is building up the lead in the air and harming our breathing. More than that, we should have depended on hydropower to meet our needs, which should have gone to natural renewable energy, where electricity is now more needed for industrialization. To generate electricity, we must go to coal power again. Coal power is also destroying the environment separately. And more than that, the power station must be built near the natural protection Sundarbans. The consequence of setting up industrial factories near the Sundarbans is the destruction of the Sundarbans. But this beautiful forest is our natural protection which protects the entire coastal region from storms, floods and natural disasters. While the Sundarbans are suffering from salinity due to the Farakka Dam, at the same time such industrialization will affect the biodiversity of the Sundarbans.

These cannot be understood immediately. Those who advocate it now will not be alive when the damage to the environment begins. Those who once ignored Farakka's influential role for their own sake are no more. So, all plans must have a long-term vision. In that plan, one's indigenous capabilities, culture, history, and traditions should be preserved, these should be maintained. I conclude with the example of Japan. Japan is a very modern country, very advanced in technology yet they have not changed those old trains, old bus stands, or old systems in the last 50/60 years. Now we are building flyovers, instead, we should have looked at how to use the existing roads properly, spending hard-earned foreign currency and getting into geopolitical entanglements while doing these works. By teaching the people to obey traffic laws, and building a big flyover above the road instead of making it bigger, the road below has also been damaged and the cost of construction will increase due to the increase in the construction cost of the road above. Ordinary people cannot afford it, or society has created such an income disparity that some people might be able to afford it, why should affordable transportation for the whole population be denied to those few people?

Author: Ex-Secretary to Government, Ex-Chairman of National Board of Revenue and Ex-Member of Planning Commission.

Transcribe: M A Khaleque