Thousands of fishermen and Irri-Boro farmers are struggling as all 20 small and big-sized rivers flowing through the district which they heavily rely on, have dried up.
This list of rivers comprises the Teesta, Buri Teesta, Noutara, Komlai, Deonai, Kolomdad, Burikhora, Charalkata, Khontamari, Dhaijan, Mora Dhaijan, Chilki, Khorkhoria, Salki and Jamuseswari.
Fishermen have mostly become unemployed and are trying to switch to other professions in order to survive and the farmers are struggling to irrigate their Irri-Boro paddy, say the locals.
A fisherman, Taiyab Ali, 42, the son of Mansur Ali, of the Dimla upazila’s Nalparha village, says, “We cannot catch fish in the summer season due to a lack of water in the river. Besides this, we cannot switch to other professions and so are living miserable lives.”
A farmer, Anisur Rahman, 50, the son of late Abdul Latif, also of the Nalparha village, says, “We could easily divert water from the river to our cropland but now we cannot do so as the rivers have dried up. This is happening every year.”
“Though shallow machines are available for irrigation, they are costly, and so we can hardly benefit from using the shallow machine water. We have to spend a hefty amount for irrigation,” he added.
All the rivers have silted up and due to dredging, they easily overflow, vastly damaging the farmland in the rainy season while it suffers from a lack of irrigation in the dry season, say the locals.
As the rivers have dried up, many farmers grow crops on the river beds. Once, when these rivers were full to the brim, their water was used to help grow crops on tens of thousands of acres of land.
Sirajul Islam, deputy director at the Nilphamari’s Agriculture Extension conceded that the suffering of the farmers and fishermen is multitudinous and said, “Their suffering will not come down unless navigability is brought back to the rivers.”
“The relevant authorities (like the water development board) should work toward this end immediately and end the suffering of the people like the farmers and fishermen who are heavily dependent on the rivers for their livelihood,” he added.
