Ichhamati river dam removal stalled
The local administration has lately postponed their decision to remove the controversial dam built on the Ichhamati river at Bahadurpur Bazar in Harirampur upazila under the district.
Following a report titled 'Held hostage by dams' on Page 16 of The Daily Star On October 24, the district administration discussed the matter with the district and upazila officials and Bangladesh Water Development Board (WDB) authorities.
Afterwards, decision was taken to break the dam at Bahadurpur yesterday, which was to be followed by breaking of another dam on the Ichhamati at Jelepara.
“I asked the WDB executive engineer to remove the dam at Bahadurpur and they set the time for breaking it at 10:30am on Sunday,” said Harirampur Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Kazi Rezwan Arefin.
The UNO, officer-in-charge of Harirampur Police Station, WDB officials, and chairmen of Gala and nearby unions were to be present during the event.
But WDB Executive Engineer Hasan Mahmud told this correspondent on Saturday night that the dam removal work had been postponed.
“The people supporting the dam removal and those opposing it took confronting positions. And so, the administration has postponed the decision. After further discussions with all concerned, the dam will be broken, hopefully in a few days,” he said.
Manikganj District Council Chairman Golam Mohiuddin, also president of the district unit of Awami League, said he had asked the deputy commissioner (DC) to break the dam on the Ichhamati river.
DC Md Nazmus Sadat Selim said, “Some local people including Awami League activists of Ramkrishnapur and Bahadurpur in Harirampur approached local lawmaker Mamtaz Begum with request to prevent breaking of the dam. And the lawmaker has asked the administration for a few days so that decision can be taken after discussion.”
Two temporary dams were built across the Ichhamati at Bahadurpur and Jelepara last year.
Many people in Bahadurpur and Ramkrishnapur led by some ruling party men oppose removal of the dams. They say the dams help protect the areas from erosion by the nearby Padma river while many others disagree.
Many locals said some ruling party men are earning huge profits from fish farming in the excavated three-kilometre river area after the dam was built.
There are also allegations that local fishermen are prevented from catching fish there.
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