Minister of Water Resources Zaheed Farooque is set to visit the Haor areas in Sunamganj on Wednesday and Thursday that have been badly affected by the flash flood.
Thousands of farmers in Sunamganj, Kishoreganj and Netrokona have been affected by the flood, which started as early as April 3 this year, due to loss of Boro paddy.
The minister along with Additional Secretary Mizanur Rahman, and Water Development Board Director General Fazlur Rashid will first visit different haors of Dharmapasha and Tahirpur upazilas on Wednesday and Dirai upazila on Thursday.
The farmers in Sunamganj are tensed about losing the Boro paddy that they have cultivated in the haors as they suspect that the water will collapse the embankments due to the onrush of hilly waters.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Hasan Ud Daula said that, in the seven unions under Tahirpur Upazila this season, it was aimed to cultivate IRRI and Boro paddies on 17,495 hectares of land.
Amid a shortage of labor due to the Ramadan, the 20 combined-harvesters provided by the government mitigated the adverse situation significantly, he said.
The farmers were warned about the rain and storm beforehand, and were instructed to harvest 80% of the ripened paddy so that those had not got damaged due to rain and storm, said the official.
To avoid any bitter consequence, the farmers have started harvesting the Boro paddy on the banks of Shoni and Matiyan haors.
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However, they are disappointed due to the high labor cost. So, after the labors cut down the paddy, the farmers themselves, together with the women and children of their families, are threshing the paddy, and drying it in open places.
Starting from 14th April, the farmers have been able to harvest about 30% of their crops. From around the same time, heavy rainfall and hailstorms have damaged a great amount of crops.
A local farmer said they were harvesting the crops even though not ripen properly because the embankments built for protecting the crops might give in due to heavy water pressure.
Many farmers have reacted angrily because of the authorities’ carelessness and irregularities during the construction of the dykes.
Had the dams been monitored responsibly before the water pressure increased, this situation would not have arisen, they said.