Teesta Project: Irrigation hampered as road across major canal obstructs flow
A metalled road obstructs flow in Bogra major branch canal under Teesta Irrigation Project at Belaichondi village in Parbatipur upazila as Bangladesh Water Development Board’s (WDB) Saidpur divisional office in Nilphamari failed to follow rules while constructing the canal.
Consequently, irrigation of targeted agricultural fields in the downstream is hampered in the dry season and flooding occurs during the monsoon, said the stakeholders.
The 34.5-kilometre-long and 120-metre-wide Bogra canal was completed in 2017 to irrigate 10 thousand hectares of land in Kishoreganj, Saidpur, Taraganj, Badarganj and Parbatipur upazilas, said Rafiqul Islam, sub divisional engineer of WDB in Saidpur.
“As per project rule, bridges are to be built over the canal, cutting the existing roads on the way, so that movement of people and vehicles as well as flow of water remains unhindered,” he said.
Rafiul Bari, WDB’s agriculture extension officer in Nilphamari, informed that Teesta Irrigation Project commissioned in 1998 has an overall target to irrigate 2.50 lakh hectares of land in 35 upazilas of Nilphamari, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Joypurhat and Bogra districts.
For the purpose, Rangpur and Dinajpur major branch canals were constructed initially while the Bogra canal is a recent addition.
Besides, there are a number of secondary and tertiary canals to serve the purpose.
LGED built the 3.5-km Belaichondi--Baluchar Kutipara metalled road long before the construction of Bogra canal, said Hasibur Rahman, chairman of Belaichondi union parishad.
“During construction of the canal, I requested WDB officials to cut the road and build a bridge here, so that the canal is not divided into two segments. They ignored the matter although 18 such bridges were constructed over the canal connecting other existing roads,” he said.
As irrigation is seriously hampered due to obstruction to the water flow, farmers in the downstream have to use expensive shallow pumps for irrigation, said Ananda Das, 30, a farmer of Kutipara village.
In face of locals’ demand, the authorities concerned set concrete pipes under the road, through which only a little water passes, said farmer Mohammad Ali, 55, of Belaichondi village.
The obstruction to flow in Bogra canal causes flooding in the area during the rainy season when Teesta Barrage authorities open the regulator gates at Dalia to release excess water, said Shahidul Islam, headmaster of nearby Baluchar High School.
Contacted, Krishna Kamol Chandra Sarker, executive engineer of WDB’s Saidpur division, said, “After joining here recently, I noticed the matter. We’re likely to launch another project titled ‘Teesta Barrage command area development project’ and during its implementation, we’ll build a bridge at the point and remove the obstruction to flow in the canal.”