Sanjita Kirtuniya and Ananya Akhtar from Singhair, Manikganj
BARCIK organized a national dialogue on ‘Safe Food, Safe Health and Safe Future’ recently at the District Shilpakala Academy Manikganj. Manikganj Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Latif was present as the chief guest in the said dialogue. Deputy Director of District Environment Department Mohammad Saiful Islam, Additional Deputy Director of Agriculture Extension Department Mumtaz Sultana, District Additional Livestock Resource Officer Dr. Abdur Razzak, District Safe Food Worker Noore Alam Sohag, Assistant Director of Consumer Rights Protection Asaduzzaman Rumel, Chairman of National Women’s Association Laxmi Chattergy were present as special guests. Besides District Farmers Association President Bir Muktijodha Shankar Prasad Bhowmik, Farmers League President Mizanur Rahman Nazrul, Teacher Leader Comrade Mujibur Rahman Master and various media workers participated in the national dialogues and had their say.
Apart from this, farmers of different villages, youth entrepreneurs, different occupational organizations, cultural organizations, women’s organizations, youth organizations, environmentalist organizations, representatives of civil society, students, teachers and people of different classes and occupation participated in the national dialogue.
At the beginning of the event, the chief guest Mohammad Abdul Latif inaugurated the event by visiting the safe food and uncultivated plant seeds fair. In the dialogue, the Deputy Commissioner said, “Although food security has been achieved in Bangladesh, it has not been possible to ensure safe food.” We all need to be aware to ensure safe food for all. We will not do anything that will harm the future generations. The development that does not harm anyone is called sustainable development.’ He further said, ‘Many success stories of vermicompost production, use, sale, safe food production and marketing have emerged on this stage which were not much seen in the past. Therefore, I hope through your sincere work, someday will be able to ensure safe food for all.’
Earlier, while delivering welcoming speech director of BARCIK Syed Ali Biswas said, ‘No living being in the nature can survive alone. If we want to live, we must live with all the life of the environment including soil, water and air. Because, we are dependent on each other.’
In the dialogue, BARCIK program coordinator Shimul Kumar Biswas showed the video documentary of the activities that BARCIK has been implementing for a long time with the objective to ensure safe food, safe health and safe future for all living beings in the nature and environment. On the other hand, district Agriculture Development Committee President Karam Ali Master drew the attention of the Deputy Commissioner to protect agricultural land from destruction due to various industrial factories and unplanned brick kilns, recognize farmers as food warriors and provide allowances for farmers. He also called for protection from harassment to get various government services including land registration.
At the closing ceremony of the dialogue, Advocate Deepak Kumar Ghosh said, “We need industrial plants and infrastructure development to keep the economy alive and running, but we do not want any development that destroys life, nature and environment. We want sustainable and safe development that ensures the safety of all lives. Therefore, whenever we see any activities that are destructive to life, nature and environment, we will stand up and protest against them collectively.’
Translated by Silvanus Lamin