Newstoday: RAJSHAHI, Oct 27: State Minister for Water Resources Nazrul Islam, MP, recently said the present government is committed to integrated water resources management in the vast Barind tract for improving living and livelihood condition its population, reports BSS. To this end, the government has enacted the Bangladesh Water Act, 2003 and adopted effective measures for sustainable, effective, inclusive management and use of water resources. Apart from this, the government has taken effective initiative to construct the mach-talked about Ganga Barrage. He was addressing a project inception workshop titled "Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) Piloting to Translate Bangladesh Water Act, 2013 in Barind Areas" held at Hotel Warisan in Rajshahi City as the chief guest. Water Resource Planning Organization (WARPO), DASCOH and Swiss Red Cross jointly organized the workshop detailing the aspects of the Water Act alongside objectives and implementation strategy of the pilot project. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supported the event. Fazley Hossain Badsha, MP, WARPO Director General Selim Bhuiyan, Executive Director of Barind Multipurpose Development Authorities Ahsan Jakir and SDC Deputy Director Messerli spoke as special guests with Mejbah Uddin Chowdhury, Deputy Commissioner of Rajshahi, in the chair. State Minister Nazrul Islam said the construction of Ganga barrage is important to save the one third of Bangladesh population living in the Ganga basin. "It would not be possible to save one third of our people living in the Ganga basin without the construction of Ganga barrage," he added. "The government is very much optimism about signing of the much-expected Teesta river water sharing agreement," he told the meeting. In his welcome address, Akramul Haque, Chief Executive Officer of DASCOH, highlighted the thrusts of the workshop. During their keynote presentations, Engineer Rezaul Karim, Project Director of WARPO, and Amitabh Sharma, Country Director of Swiss Red Cross, highlighted backgrounds of adopting the project. Lawmaker Badsha said water management practices need to be improved to reconcile conflicting uses for food, people and nature. He mentioned that Bangladesh achieved MDG targets for drinking water but water sector remain fragmented and uncoordinated. Representatives from Union Parishad, Pourasava, Civil Society, Development Partners, Academics, Researchers, Journalists, Human Rights Activists and Professionals attended the workshop.