Equal allocation in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector has been demanded by non-government development organisations as the difference in the sector have increased.
“Inequality between rural and urban areas has increased by 8 percent in water, sanitation and hygiene sector compared to that of the previous fiscal,” Shamim Ahmed, head of policy and advocacy of WaterAid, said.
Highlighting comparative figures between the last nine years of WASH allocation in the national budget and 2015-16 fiscal’s allocation, Shamim Ahmed presented a key note paper at a press conference held yesterday morning in capital’s Reporters’ Unity.
Demanding proper allocation for specific projects, Shamim Ahmed said: “Remote and disadvantaged wetlands, coast, tea gardens in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and specific projects for the disadvantaged population are not being taken into consideration.”
“The total budget allocated to this sector is near to zero” he added. Speakers at the press conference noted that the national budget allocation for WASH the sector is only Tk293 per capita in 2015-16 fiscal year.
They said in order to see the country become a middle income nation with a vision 2021, allocations in this sector will have to be increased.
The press conference was attended by Abhijit Paddar, economist and consultant of the Human Development Research Center, Dr Md Khairul Islam, country representative of WaterAid, and Monirul Alam, Unicef representative, among others.
Khairul Islam said: “Bangladesh is advancing in every sector but disparity between rich and poor is not decreasing. We want inequality-free allocations to meet the specific demands of this sector.”
