The discussion was organised by Council for National Agenda at the Centre for Integrated Rural Development of Asia and Pacific (CIRDAP), with Justice Mohammed Abdur Rouf in the chair.

"With manifold adverse impacts on the economy and environment, India's river interlinking project to network 54 trans-border rivers poses a serious threat to Bangladesh," said Bangladesh Water Development Board Chief Engineer Akhtar Hossain.

The project will make traditional agriculture impossible, cause river erosion and saline intrusion in water and soil, destroy environment and bio-diversity and hamper our navigation, Hossain added.

Referring to India's recent vow to execute the project 'on war footing', Hossain suggested that people of Bangladesh should be mobilised on the basis of political consensus to avert the effect of India's water diversion move.

"To protect its national interest, Bangladesh has to be more vocal against the Indian plan. The government should raise the issue before the international community to save the Sundarbans, a world heritage site," said Barrister Moinul Hossain.

"Like India, we cannot work out any national issue with political accord, as we don't have a knowledge-based government yet," said Professor M Ashraf of Chittagong University.

"India contrives river water as a weapon of mass destruction against Bangladesh," said journalist Anwar Zahid.

"We need political will and consensus, which we haven't so far been able to build to address such an issue," he added.