Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan speaking in a a seminar titled “Crisis and Prospects of Haors” at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU). Photo: PID

DHAKA, July 8, 2025 (BSS) - Water Resources and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan today said a protection order to control tourism in haor areas under Bangladesh  Water Act 2013 will be finalized soon.  

“We have already prepared the draft of the protection order and will finalize it, which will include what tourists can and cannot do when they go to haors,” she told a seminar titled “Crisis and Prospects of Haors” at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) here.

Rizwana said the protection order will clearly state where houseboats can and cannot go in the haor, and what orders houseboats must follow to operate.

Referring to herself as a haor resident from Habiganj, she said, "Haor is a sea of fresh water. Green Boro paddy grows in the haor before the monsoon. Water enters the haor within a week of paddy harvesting. After the water returns, paddy can be seen being planted. Such a unique eco-system is actually rare in the world."

Noting Haor Master Plan was started in 2003, the adviser said recently, the draft of the master plan update has been finalized by the government. 

She said that there was a clear instruction in updating this master plan that the opinions of the local people of the haor area should be taken. 

In that context, a day-long workshop was held and the opinions received in it will be incorporated, she said adding the draft will be uploaded on the website. 

Rizwana said the haor master plan update will be finalized with the opinions of those who work with haors. She said an instruction has been given to mark the boundaries of the haors.

“We have roughly finalized a list of which trees should be planted in which haors. We have talked to the Ministry of Health about whether a floating hospital can be provided in the haor,” she said.

Mohammad Habibur Rahman, Director General (Additional Charge) of the Bangladesh Haor and Wetland Development Department, RTV News Editor and Journalist Ilias Hossain, Tahmina Khanam, Executive Director of the Green Concern Foundation, and Journalist Erfanul Haque Nahid, among others, also spoke.

Rafiq Muhammad, President of Netrokona Journalists Forum, Dhaka, chaired the event.