Dr AKM Munir, one of the winners of Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability 2007, said this at a discussion yesterday.

He also said the Bangladeshi people themselves should take the initiatives to solve the problem of how to ensure supply of safe water across the country; no donor agencies would do this for them.

The Institute of Diploma Engineers' Bangladesh (IDEB) organised the discussion at its auditorium in the city and also accorded a reception to Dr Abul Hussam and his brother Dr AKM Munir who won the Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability for inventing Sono Filter, a small-scale, inexpensive technique to remove arsenic from contaminated water.

Dr Hussam, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at George Mason University, USA, said, "If we do not have safe drinking water, everything else becomes irrelevant."

Referring to the Sono Filter, he said, "It is the beginning of a new technology."

Prof Dr Abul Barakat of Dhaka University said the ultra-poor people are worst affected by arsenic contamination in groundwater in the country.

Around 50 crore people of the world are exposed to arsenic while the figure in Bangladesh is 1.2 crore, he said, adding that the problem should be addressed without further delay.

Dr Munir, also the general secretary of Manab Shakti Unnayan Kendra, said they have already distributed 25000 Sono Filters free among the poor people.

The Kendra also has a plan to distribute 20,000 more filters free to the needy community, he added.

IDEB President Rafiqul Islam Bhuiyan chaired the programme while its General Secretary Kazi Nazrul Islam and Justice Ghulam Rabbani also spoke.