‘Govt won’t harm Sundarban’
The World Tourism Day was observed in the country on Friday as elsewhere across the globe with the theme ‘Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future’. Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), various tour operators and other organisations observed the day with elaborate programmes. The government will seriously pay attention to all environmental and sustainability issues of the Sundarban, the world’s largest mangrove forest, and no harm will be done to the local ecology, said civil aviation and tourism minister Lt. Col. (retd) Faruk Khan on Friday.
“We need electricity. At the same time, we need to protect our environment. We’ll never harm the Sundarban,” the minister told reporters at Dhaka University’s TSC after a rally was brought out from Ramna Park on the occasion of World Tourism Day-2013. This year’s theme is “Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future”.
“The Rampal power plant will be set up far from the Sundarban and state-of-the-art technology will be used there,” said Faruk Khan, adding that the government had assessed environmental aspects before deciding on the proposed 1,320 MW coal-fired power project.
Amid growing dissension over the proposed power project, the government on Thursday said some individuals and organisations were misleading the people.
Faruk Khan praised the tourism department for a record number of domestic tourists, along with an increasing number of foreign tourists. “The number of tourists was 2 to 2.5 lakh a few years back, but it reached 5.88 lakh last year.
Earlier, we used to earn Tk. 60-65 million, but the earnings increased to Tk. 100.93 million in 2012-2013,” he added.
The Tour Operators’ Association of Bangladesh, Aviation and Tourism Journalists’ Forum, Bangladesh, Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh, Ruposhi Bangla Hotel, Regency Dhaka, American International University, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, Bangladesh Tourism Board and the Bangladesh Kite Foundation, among others, took part in the rally.
The Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), various tour operators and other organisations have drawn up elaborate programmes to observe the day.
The BPC and Tour Operator Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) jointly organised a discussion on this year’s theme at Hotel Abakash in the afternoon. An open-air folk concert was organised by the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) at Ramna Park at 6 pm.
A debate competition on tourism was held at the TSC Cafeteria of Dhaka University on Thursday afternoon. The BPC organised a photo exhibition on tourist destinations in association with DOTS at the TSC from 26 to 27 September.
-With New Age input
