Throwing a challenge to BNP, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday asked the party to prove its claim that uranium-contaminated water coming from India got mixed with haor water in Sunamganj.

‘It’s just an unnecessary propaganda. What type of proof do they have? I’ll ask them to come up with proof. People will believe you if you can prove this through any lab test,’ she said.

The Prime Minister was speaking at a meeting of Awami League Nomination Board for local government election at her official residence Ganabhaban.

Sheikh Hasina said a false propaganda is going on regarding the haor water after the flashflood. ‘One extraordinary scientist of BNP said uranium coming from India is killing all the fish in the area.’

She mentioned that BNP is spreading confusion through false propaganda to materialise its ill motive.

The Prime Minister said the government did not waste time when the allegation surfaced. ‘We sent scientists from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and they found nothing there.’

She also alleged that it is the character of BNP to spread false information among people to confuse them.

Hasina said embankments in haor areas are falling apart due to heavy rain and flashflood. ‘Natural calamities can strike anytime. However, we haven’t seen such a bad situation since coming to office in 2009,’ she said.

The Prime Minister also mentioned that the government is not sitting idle keeping the eyes closed. ‘We’ve directed the relief ministry and local administration to stand by the affected people. We’ve already allocated 30kg food grains for each family.’

Talking about the claim of a section of people that there has been an agreement with Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh, the Prime Minister dismissed it as untrue. ‘There’s another propaganda that we’ve inked an agreement with Hefajat. There’s no deal with Hefajat.’

Mentioning that there are six separate boards for Qawmi madrasah education, she said the government is trying to bring the education under a system.

‘No one in the past paid any attention to the matter although 14 lakh students are pursuing education in Qawmi madrasahs. The present government wants to bring it under a systematic rule,’ Hasina said.