Encroachers fill up 2 canals for crop farming
Two remote irrigation canals of Bangladesh Water Development Board (WDB) under Teesta Irrigation Project, the largest of its kind in the country, have disappeared as local influential people occupied those to grow crops.
BWDB in 1996-1997 fiscal year constructed a secondary canal titled S5D originating from Dinajpur branch canal at Kalitola of Nilphamari Sadar upazila with the target to irrigate 1,347 hectares of land in Sadar and Saidpur upazilas, sources said.
After proceeding 11.95 kilometres, the secondary canal bifurcated into two branches near Dhelapir Bazar.
The tertiary canals, 3-kilometre T3D and 4.58-kilometre T4D, were supposed to provide irrigational water to about 650 hectares of land in ten villages of Saidpur upazila.
Visiting T3D canal at Koya Golahat village on Saturday, it was found that the canal area from Ahmed plywood factory point on Saidpur bypass to Fida Ali Institute of Saidpur municipality has turned into a plain land, merging with surrounding crop fields.
Influential people levelled the canal to cultivate paddy as water from the Teesta project never reached its fag end since commissioning in 1998, said Shahin Ahmed, local commissioner of Saidpur municipality.
Another tertiary canal T4D at its tail end is also filled with earth and its concrete edges are demolished to level the land with nearby crop fields in Majapara, Fakirpara and Bagdogra villages and Motir Bazar area of the upazila.
The encroachers cultivated turmeric, pepper, dhoincha, leafy vegetables, sugarcane, bean and other items there.
A few occupants including Akbar, Nawshad, Hobibor and Abbas claimed that the canal had been damaged due to lack of maintenance and they are utilising the canal's land to grow crops as the land earlier belonged to their forefathers.
Shafiqul Islam, former chairman of concerned Kamarpukur union parishad, said he had informed WDB officials about the occupation of the two canals several times but no step was taken.
The government allocates a good amount of money every year for maintenance of the canals under Teesta Irrigation Project but the allocation is not properly utilised, WDB sources said.
Abdul Mabud Sheikh, executive engineer of WDB's Nilphamari division, admitted the occupation of S3D and S4D canals and said, “BWDB has initiated a project titled 'improvement management of irrigation projects' to recover the encroached canals and renovate those for smooth irrigation in the adjoining areas.
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