Ekushey medalist 71-year-old freedom fighter Kshitindra Chandra Vaishya wants to set a world record by swimming 281 km of river continuously from Sylhet. He will start swimming from Kinbridge-adjacent Chandnighat of Surma river in Sylhet city at 6 am next Monday.

Kshitindra Chandra will reach Bhairab Bazar Ferry Ghat in Kishoreganj by swimming continuously. The Sylhet District Command of Bangladesh Mukti Jodha Sangsad will assist him in this activity.

On this occasion, a press conference was held at 12:30 noon on Saturday in the conference room of District Freedom Fighters Complex. At this time, the former freedom fighter commander of the district, Subrata Chakraborty alias Jewel, gave detailed information. Kshitindra Chandra Vaishya and other freedom fighters were present at this time.

Subrata Chakraborty said, Kshitindra will start swimming from the Surma river in Sylhet at 6 am on Monday. He will stay in the river till he reaches his destination. Do all the work including eating and drinking in the river. There will be separate teams of Freedom Fighters Command, Naval Police and Civil Surgeon to assist the Mukti Jodha Sangsad in this activity. A team sent by the Civil Surgeon will give him first aid including blood pressure check every two hours while swimming.

It was informed in the press conference that it will take 60 to 70 hours to cross the 281 km river.

Subrata Chakraborty said, all the time three boats will be by the side of Kshitindra Chandra all the time. He will cross 144.39 kilometers of Surma River, 84.31 kilometers of Dhanu River, 34.27 kilometers of Ghorautra River and 18.33 kilometers of Meghna River out of 281 kilometers.

Kshitindra Chandra’s house is in Jahangirpur village of Madan upazila of Netrakona. He retired as Deputy Director of Civil Aviation Authority. Kshitindra Chandra, who passed his MSc in Physics from Dhaka University, has received four national level awards so far in swimming.

Kshitendra Chandra said that no problem was detected after conducting a physical examination for uninterrupted swimming. He said, “The family members are a little scared about swimming such a long river because of their age.” But I am hopeful of breaking the world record.