DHAKA, May 14: A rally here on Friday called upon India to scrap a proposed river-linking project that, according to experts in Bangladesh, would spell disaster for the entire region. The speakers said if the project were implemented, water flow in Bangladesh’s rivers would be reduced by a quarter.

“We repeatedly hear some misleading news that India is no more interested in the project. Then why an Indian court ruled that the government should implement the project within 12 years?” wondered Masrurul Haq Siddiqui, a former member of the country’s water development board.

Dr M.A. Matin, joint secretary of a non-governmental organization, said contrary to India’s claim that the project was still at the conceptual stage, the Indian authorities concerned were going ahead with plans to implement the project.

Criticizing Indian politicians for keeping everybody in the dark about the project, he said: “We have to make people aware of the potential ecological disaster in the whole region to be caused by the project.”