"Bangladesh is crisscrossed by 230 rivers. Of them, 54 rivers have originated from India. The Indian government has already built dams on 52 rivers," he told reporters after attending a seminar marking the World Water Day 2006.

Mannan Bhuiyan took part in the seminar on 'Water and culture: Where we are' at the IDB Bhaban auditorium in the city.

"A total of 80 rivers and many canals and wetlands have almost dried up because of lack of flow of water or other natural or man-made obstructions," he said while addressing the seminar as the chief guest.

Earlier the people used the river water, but now they do not collect water from the river and canals even in the rainy season as the waste from mills and factories have contaminated the water to a great extent, the minister said.

State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Ziaul Haque Zia said the government is committed to achieving sanitation for all by 2010, much ahead of the international target of 2025.

Representative of World Health Organisation Dr Duangvadee Sungkhobol said about 1,10,000 under-five children die of diarrhoea every year in Bangladesh.

Prof AI Mahbub Uddin Ahmed of Dhaka University presented a keynote paper on 'Culture and water use: Bangladesh perspective'.

Executive Director of NGO Forum SMA Rashid, Paul Edward of Unicef, Chief Engineer of Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) M Khurshed Alam and Superintending Engineer of DPHE Amanullah-Al-Mahmood also spoke.