Desperate land grabbers have pushed the main canal in the district town on the edge of extinction, thanks to the controversial role of the local administration and municipal authorities.
The sorry state appeared as Faridpur municipal authorities and the district administration had leased out the canal’s both banks to some people who have started grabbing more land in absence of proper monitoring.
The canal, also known as Faridpur Khal, is alone natural passage for discharging rainwater and wastewater to the Kumar river from the town. It flows over mainly Alipur and Lakshmipur areas there.
Consequently, acute water logging might appeared in the town during rainy season due to the disturbance of the water flow.
It was learnt from the official records that the canal was about 580m in length and 52-115ft in width, but the land grab has changed the scenario in name of lease.
Sources said the canal is actually connected to the Padma via Kumar river and one upon a time locals use boats to move their goods outside of the district through the naval way.
Though the municipal authorities during the 2008 army-backed caretaker government enabled to recover some lands from the grabbers, the move lost its pace in course of time.
Numerous illegal structures were seen on both banks and the canal was narrowed very badly leaving its unfit to discharge water.
Recently, the local administration has planned to make a road along the canal to ease traffic jam of the town, but experts warned that the initiative would worsen the situation.
Faridpur Municipality Mayor Sheik Mahatab Ali Methu claimed that they are real authorities of the canal. Faridpur Deputy Commissioner Sarder Sharafat Ali told the Dhaka Tribune that he was unaware of the lease given by his office and he assured of trying his best to end the long-running grabbing.
