Member Secretary of National Citizens Party (NCP) and the 11-party alliance-nominated candidate for the Rangpur-4 constituency Akhter Hossen has announced his election manifesto with 49-point development plans in 10 sectors.
He announced the election manifesto at a press conference held under the open sky in a different fashion on the sandy banks of the Teesta River in the Teesta Rail Bridge area of Kawnia Upazila in Rangpur on Saturday afternoon.
In his announced election manifesto, Akhter Hossen has prioritised the protection of the Teesta River, implementation of the Teesta Master Plan and improvement of the quality of life of people of the char areas in his Rangpur-4 (Kawnia-Pirgachha) constituency.
The manifesto highlighted 49-point plans in 10 sectors for the improvement of life and livelihood of people, including education, health, agriculture, development of backward communities and women, employment creation through the establishment of industries and factories, environmental protection, resolution of land-related complications, eradication of drugs, creation of entertainment centres for children and development of the tourism industry.
Akhter Hossen said, "We want to form a separate ministry to change the fate of the people of riverine char areas."
The Teesta River banks are being devoured due to unbridled erosion during floods every year. Due to this, huge resources worth billions of takas are lost in the river water.
He said, "We want a permanent solution to the Teesta erosion problem. We will do that by dredging the Teesta River to fix its depth and navigability and ensure that the water flows through the river's course all the year. We want to implement the Teesta Master Plan, including building embankments on both banks of the Teesta."
He said that Teesta is an international river. India has built a dam upstream of this river. If they suddenly open the dam during the monsoon, our farmers on the riverbanks suffer huge losses.
"So that our farmers can harvest their crops and remove the risky houses on the riverbanks, India should inform us at least three days before opening the dam that we want to maintain such friendly relations with India on Teesta," he said.
At the same time, we want to get back our fair share of Teesta water.
At that time, NCP District Committee Joint Conveners Alamgir Nayan and Alal Uddin Kaderi Shanti, Organiser Tawfiq Islam, along with party workers and supporters were present.
As a candidate of the 11-party electoral alliance under the symbol of 'Shapla Koli', Akhter Hossain is contesting in Rangpur-4 constituency, which consists of Kawnia and Pirgachha upazilas, where the total number of voters is 5,09,906.
The other seven candidates contesting for the constituency are BNP's Mohammad Emdadul Haque Bharasha (Sheaf of Paddy), Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist)'s Pragati Barman Toma (Scissors), Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish's Abu Sahma (Rickshaw), Bangladesh Congress's Ujjal Chandra Roy (Dub), Jatiya Party's Abu Naser Shah Md Mahbubar Rahman (Plow), Islami Andolan Bangladesh's Md Zahid Hossain (Hand Fan) and independent candidate Shah Alam Basar (Deer).
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