Waterlogging has caused extensive damage tocrops on 550 hectares of land in Bagmara upazila of Rajshahi as the mouths of various bridges and culverts have been blocked by local influential people.
Hundreds of farmers have incurred heavy losses after crops such as paddy, onion, mustard, eggplant, beans, and betel leaf have been destroyed.
Farmers said that waterlogging has been created as water cannot be drained. According to affected farmers, waterlogging has been caused by unplanned pond excavation, blocking bridge–culvert outlets for fish farming, and negligence from government departments.
Farmers from Balanagar, Ganipur, Ekdala and Madhaimuri areas allege that influential individuals have blocked culvert mouths to excavate ponds. In the Jashore Beel under Goalkandi union alone, more than a hundred ponds have been dug.
The land office data show that ponds have been dug on 90%land at 11 mouzas of thebeel. Even light rainfall inundates vast areas. It is not possible to cultivate crops there under any circumstances.
According to the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Bagmara has 816 bridges and culverts. Of these, the mouths of more than a hundred have been blocked, obstructing water flow. As a result, long-term waterlogging has been created. Although different departments acknowledge the problem, they shift the responsibility onto each other—no one wants to take responsibility.
Nozir Uddin Mondal, a farmer, cultivated potato on six and a half bighas of land last year and suffered a loss of Tk2 lakh. He sold his cattle to repay the loan and attempted to recover losses by cultivating onions and vegetables. But his hopes have been shattered as continuous rain submerged cropland and destroyed onion and eggplant seedlings on three bighas of land. Now he has no cattle left and sees no way to recover the losses.
Nozir Uddin said, “Under the shelter of influential people, ponds are being dug one after another. They have blocked the mouths of the bridges and culverts and stopped the natural flow of water. Because of waterlogging, the land remains submerged for several months every year. We cannot cultivate crops. If this continues, agriculture will have to be abandoned. Then we will have no choice but to starve with our families.”
Thousands of farmers like Nazir incurred losses. Rainwater has submerged Aman paddy, early onions, mustard, vegetables, chilli, beans and betel leaf. During the last monsoon, betel leaf and Aman paddy were completely submerged.
Abdul Momin, assistant engineer of the Water Development Board, says this issue is not their responsibility. Nazirul Islam, supervising engineer of the Barind Multipurpose Development Project, says the responsibility lies with those who constructed the bridges. Meanwhile, Jahurul Islam, executive engineer of Rajshahi district and responsible for the construction work, says their task is only to build the infrastructure, clearing blocked outlets is not within their capacity. Thus, the problem has persisted for years because different government departments avoid responsibility.
Bagmara Upazila Agriculture Officer Dr. Abdur Razzak said that this year, due to rain-induced waterlogging, crops on 550 hectares of land in Bagmara have been damaged. Crops include 10 hectares of Aman, 15 hectares of betel leaf, 150 hectares of mustard, 1 hectare of garlic, 40 hectares of onion, 12 hectares of eggplant, 120 hectares of vegetables, 5 hectares of chilli and 210 hectares of other crops.