Boro on 400 acres in Rangpur, Manikganj goes under water

Farmers take onto a boat boro paddy harvested from a field in Shibalaya upazila of Manikganj district as the area went under water after dyke collapse at Kashahdaha on Sunday.Photo: STAR

Boro paddy on around 400 acres of land has gone under water in Manikganj and Rangpur due to torrential rain and collapse of an embankment.
Our Manikganj correspondent reported that a flood control embankment at Kashadaha under Shibalaya upazila collapsed on Saturday, inundating boro crop on around 200 acres of land.
Water Development Board (WDB) sources said the water level in the Jamuna marked a sharp rise following downpour in the upstream and the dyke collapsed under heavy pressure of water.
Another embankment at Uthuli in the upazila is under threat as the rain-swollen Jamuna continues to rise, the sources said.
Kashadaha Co-operative sources said farmers cultivated boro on around 3,400 acres of land under Kashadaha Irrigation Project this year. Of them, about 200 acres have gone under water.
While visiting the area on Sunday, this correspondent saw the farmers were cutting unripe boro on the submerged land and loading them onto boats.
The farmers said if water does not recede fast, the boro paddy will get damaged.
They urged the concerned authorities, especially the water Development Board (WDB) to repair the damaged embankment and build two sluice gates on both sides of Kashadaha canal at Kashadaha and Uthuli points.
In Rangpur, about 200 acres of boro cropland in the low-lying areas in Gangachara union under Sadar upazila have gone under water due to heavy rain for the last three days.
The area goes under water even after a moderate rainfall and water remains stagnant for six to seven days or longer because of lack of proper drainage system, according to our correspondent.
Farmers who cultivated boro for the first time in the low-lying areas are cutting unripe paddy to avoid further loss.
Upazila agriculture officer said they asked the farmers to cut the submerged boro paddy immediately. Otherwise, they will face heavy loss, he added.