DHAKA, March 3: Several thousand people began a two-day march towards the northern district of Kurigram in protest against an Indian plan to inter-link trans-boundary rivers , which, according to environmentalists, will wreak havoc on lower riparian Bangladesh.

The Dhaka-Chilmari march, organized by the International Farakka Committee, will also raise the demand for due share of the Ganges water. The leader of the Bangladesh chapter of the committee, Sadeq Khan, delivered the introductory speech before the march began from the National Press Club in Dhaka in the morning.

The marchers carried placards and banners that read "Save our Rivers, Save Bangladesh". The organizers will hold a rally at Chilmari, on the bank of the Brahmaputra, at the end of the march, demanding of the Indian government to scrap the river-linking project.

Beside the rallies at Chilmari, there would be a nightlong cultural programme aiming to build awareness among the people about the adverse ecological effects of the Indian project.

The marchers also demanded cancellation of the 1996 treaty signed between Bangladesh and India for due share of the Ganges water through the controversial Farakka barrage.