Tarique inaugurates revival of Dharar Canal in Mymensingh

Residents press for roads and clinics as the premier launches the canal restoration project

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has inaugurated the re-excavation of the Dharar Canal in Mymensingh’s Trishal, reviving a waterbody first dug by his father, former president Ziaur Rahman, nearly five decades ago.

Tarique unveiled the plaque launching the project around 2:30pm on Saturday.

State Minister for Jute and Textiles Shariful Alam, local MP Mahbubur Rahman Liton and Mymensingh Administrator Syed Emran Saleh Prince were in attendance.

The 3.1-kilometre canal was originally excavated on Sept 6, 1979.

Recalling the moment from decades ago, elderly resident Jalal Islam said: “I was very young then. I saw Zia come here wearing pants and a vest, with glasses on. He himself cut the soil with a spade to inaugurate the canal excavation.”

Former Imam Md Shahidullah said, “The father came here as president, and now the son has come as prime minister. We are very happy.”

He urged the government to pave the road beside the canal and establish a community clinic in the neglected area.

After ceremonially cutting soil with a spade, Tarique planted trees along the canal bank before joining a civic gathering where cheering villagers welcomed him with applause.

Later in the afternoon, he is scheduled to inaugurate a three-day event marking poet Kazi Nazrul Islam’s birth anniversary before attending a BNP meeting in Trishal.