Sluice gate in water for three years

Uncertainty has gripped crop cultivation on over 3,000 acres of land at a number of villages in two upazilas of Patuakhali and adjacent Barguna as saline water keeps entering the croplands through the collapsed embankment on Bauria canal.

Farmers of the eight villages in Patuakhali's Galachipa and Barguna's Amtali upazilas are worried over Aman cultivation this year as the dykes on both sides of a sluice gate remained without repair since it was washed away in June, 2015.

Due to the collapsed dyke, the lone sluice gate on Bauria canal at Bauria village has remained useless and the saline water kept entering the nearby farmlands and hampering the crop cultivation, they said.

Water Development Board (WDB) sources said WDB built the two-door sluice gate on Bauria canal at a cost of Tk 50 lakh in 1991 to protect the croplands of nearby villages from saline water from the nearby Buragourano river.

The sluice gate still stands there since the dyke on both sides of the sluice gate was washed away by heavy tidal surge over three years ago and saline water enters the villages through the damaged portion of the collapsed dyke.

The affected villages include, Bauria, Ramanando, Kanchonbaria in Galachipa upazila of Patuakhali and Chalitabunia, Khontakhali, Gerabunia and Sonakhali in Amtali upazila of Barguna.

Former union parishad (UP) member Mokhsed Mridha of Bauria village said they tried to construct the collapsed dyke on voluntary basis to protect their agricultural land from saline water but failed.

Betel leaf farmer Juran said at least 10 bettle gardens in the area are badly damaged due to the saline water.

Galachipa Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Officer Mohammad Saidullah said farmers of a number of villages in the upazila are in great uncertainty over cultivating Aman paddy this year as saline water already damaged over 3,000 acres of cultivable cropland due to the dyke collapse.