Water polluted; fish, crab gone

Nazrul Gazi's water selling business is booming in Jaymuni, the remotest human settlement along the Shela river in the Sundarbans. While people in the area, mostly fishermen, are suffering an acute crisis of drinking water as the river water has been polluted due to an oil slick, Nazrul is out to make a fast buck selling pond water.

“Demand of pond water usually rises when salinity of the Shela river increases during the dry season. But now I have been selling around 30 drums of water, each containing 20 litres, in Jaymauni Dakkhin Para everyday,” said Nazrul. He is selling each drum at Tk 20.

People in the area have been facing serious health hazards since an oil tanker sank in the river on Tuesday, polluting huge stretches of its water.

Marzina Begum, a housewife of Jaymuni Dakkshin Para, said: “We used to take bath, wash cloths and cook food with the river water. Now we're having to buy water for cooking and drinking. But it has become very difficult for us to take bath and wash our cloths.”

Khadiza, another woman from the same neighbourhood, said: “My son Mahfuz is suffering from diarrhoea since last night.” She added that her neighbour's children were also suffering from diarrhoea which perhaps was an effect of the contaminated water. 

Visiting several houses of two neighbourhoods where fishermen live in Jaymuni Dakkhin Para and Purba Para -- both of which stretch along the bank of the river -- this correspondent came to know that minor children were suffering from diarrhoea and having itching sores on their body. 

The oil spill has also begun to take a heavy toll on fish and crabs which, fishermen claim, have disappeared from the river.

Zakir Sheikh, a fisherman, said there was no fish in the river. Besides, his fishing net worth Tk five thousand has been damaged due to the furnace oil. 

As a result, Abdul Salam and most other fishermen are collecting furnace oil as an alternative means of livelihood.

When asked why they were collecting oil from the river instead of catching fish, Samartha Banu, who used to catch shrimp fry, said: “What would we eat if we did not collect oil?”

Two school going boys named Didar and Alam from Jaymunir Gol Purba Para said their limbs burnt and itched at night as they had been collecting oil in bare hands for the past few days.