Dhaka, March 16 -- Half a century after late president Ziaur Rahman manually dug the Joynagar canal in Keraniganj, his son Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is returning to the same banks with a shovel and a vision.

As part of its election manifesto, the newly elected BNP government is embarking on a massive priority programme to excavate and re-excavate 20,000km of rivers, canals, and water bodies across Bangladesh over the next five years.

The Joynagar canal, which once connected the Buriganga to the Dhaleshwari, has become a symbol of administrative neglect and local encroachment.

"Ziaur Rahman brought IRRI rice and shallow engines from China. He made things easy for us," recalled 70-year-old Piar Ali, a local garage owner who witnessed...