Wetland turning into wasteland

The Parliamentary Standing Committee meant for the water resources ministry has made a startling revelation to the effect that the wetland development board formed four years ago hasn't had a single meeting as yet. Now, the Prime Minister has been requested by the JS committee to convene the much awaited meeting of the governing body for haors and wetland development board to expeditiously attend to the problems of 423 haors there are. The first pressing agenda is to finalise the organogram of the board itself. The PM heads the body.

How important it is for the board to work is clearly underscored by the fact that floods last year had damaged a large number of embankments that protected the haors. Wetlands, lakes and marshes are good for profitable farming, both fish and crop, aside from being natural water reservoirs and drainage channels of enormous efficacy. Violation of wetland protection laws to grab lands is a common problem, let alone the ecological challenge posed by the drying up of the low lands.

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Parliamentary committees, now thankfully bipartisan bodies, are increasingly playing an oversight role that only makes us bemoan its previous uni-party composition. That is how the JS bodies should work as composite entities demanding accountability in governance and developmental pursuits. Bipartisan character of parliamentary committees no matter how unequal the representation of the opposition MPs in them maybe has a way of lifting their overall performance.