Millions exposed to ecological disaster in Bangladesh
Millions of people of Bangladesh have been exposed to ecological disaster.
Sources said,
about fifty million people in the south-western and northern region of the country are facing serious environmental hazards due to the unilateral withdrawal of water of the Ganges by India illegally at Farakka barrage point. Official sources said that the Farakka is not only creating environmental and ecological problems but also posing a serious threat to our agriculture, irrigation, navigation, fisheries, forest and livestock.
A silent ecological devastation as well as clear inexorable process of desertification has already been started in the northern part, while southern region is getting more and more salinated caused by the Farakka. As a result,
Bangladesh is incurring losses during the last 21 years.
Productions of fish and agricultural crops and vegetables have been drastically hampered during the last few years due to terrible setback in irrigation network.
The groundwater level is getting lower and lower, and all the small and big rivers, numbering about 19 in the northern districts, are drying up during the lean period. Existence of small rivers is hardly visible.
The once mighty Padma River has lost its navigability in an alarming proportion. Two and a half miles wide the Padma has been reduced to less then half mile, and vast charland has emerged on the river.
During a visit to the area on March 18 to see the water flow at the Harding bridge point at Pakshey in Pabna district, this correspondent saw an alarmingly scenario there. The entire riverbed, both the upstream and the downstream of the Hardinge bridge point, has been covered by miles of charlands,
presenting a view of a flaming noonday desert.
While talking to a high official of the Water Development Board (WDB) in Pabna division, he said that the flow of water at the Hardinge bridge point in Bangladesh is now the record lowest in the last two decades. He, however, said that the matter has been reported to the Joint River Commission (JRC) and the concerned ministry.
Sources in the WDB, Pabna said, the water flow in one of the largest irrigation projects of the country, Pabna Irrigation and Rural Development Project (PIRDP), has reached a record low. The entire riverbed of the mighty river Jamuna and Hurasagar has been covered by charlands and cultivable lands.
A recent survey conducted by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and the Water Development Board (WDB), revealed that about 3,579 kilometres of river routes out of a total about 6,000 kms in Bangladesh have already dried up, hampering river traffic and navigation due to the adverse effects of the Farakka barrage.
As an adverse impact of the prevailing situation, the movement of river vessels, including big cargo boats and oil tankers, has become almost impossible across the rivers. Normal operation of ferries from one place to another is being seriously disrupted.
The businessmen, wholesalers and retailers usually carry goods, including perishable items, from one place to another depending solely on boats as the transportation cost through the rivers is much cheaper. But, it has become almost impossible for them to carry on their business as the river channel has become narrower this time of the year.
Sources in the WDB told this correspondent that more rivers and their tributaries dried up this year.
Such a situation was not witnessed before.
Millions exposed to ecological disaster in Bangladesh
