Villagers join hands to save crops from tidal surge

Villagers are rendering voluntary service to repair a flood control embankment that was damaged by recent tidal surge at Char Mohiuddin village in Char Biswas union under Galachipa upazila.

Over 300 locals started repairing around 200 feet flood control dyke on Sunday as their repeated requests to local UP chairman to reconstruct the breached portion of the embankment fell on deaf ears.

Shahidul Islam, a farmer of the village, said they are doing the job on a voluntary basis to save aman plants on over 2000 acres of land at three villages of the union from being damaged during tidal surge.

Abdul Halim Howlader, another farmer of the village, said the flood control dyke collapsed during the tidal surges on August 10 and 14.

“Saline water from nearby Buragourango River enters 2000 acres of farmland through the damaged portion of the dyke during high tide twice a day", Halim said, adding if the dyke is not repaired immediately, aman plants will get damaged.

Some villagers, who participated in rebuilding the dyke, said they had no alternative to repairing the dyke to prevent saline water from entering their agricultural land from the nearby rivers and canals.

We repeatedly requested the UP chairman to take immediate steps to repair the damaged flood control dyke, but to no effect, they said.