DHAKA, Aug 17: Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam’s recent call to urgently implement the controversial river-linking project has aroused Dhaka’s suspicion about Delhi’s actual standpoint on the issue.

“We will express our suspicion and concern about India’s actual stance on the controversial project at the upcoming Joint River Commission’s meeting,” a top official of the government told the press on Tuesday.

The government on Monday decided, at a consultation meeting held at the water resources ministry, to express concern about the project, said an official who was present at the meeting.

The water resources minister, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, presided over the meeting, which was attended, among others, by adviser to the foreign ministry, Reaz Rahman, water resources secretary, SM Zahirul Islam, and JRC member Tauhidul Anwar Khan.

The 36th ministerial meeting of the Bangladesh-India commission is scheduled to be held on August 30 and 31 in Dhaka.

Monday’s meeting, which was preparatory in nature prior to the JRC meeting, discussed, along with other issues, the Indian president’s call made in his address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day on Sunday.

“Rainfall and flood are annual features...Instead of thinking about inter-linking of rivers only at times of flood and drought, it is time that we implement this programme with a great sense of urgency,” said Abdul Kalam in his speech.

“All hurdles in the way should be overcome as the project holds the promise of freeing the country [India] from the endless cycle of flood and drought,” said Abdul Kalam, although the focus of his speech was on ‘energy security as transition to total energy independence’.

“The president’s pre-Independence Day address has obviously reflected the Indian government’s latest standpoint on relevant issues,” a top water expert, who is also head of a renowned world environment conservation organization, said on Tuesday evening.

“The president’s statement made the statements of the Indian ministers, including those of Foreign Minister Natwar Singh, about the status of the project redundant.”