Vast tracts of arabale land and some 20 fish farms were inundated when the I3 cross dam of the Water Development Board on Ichamati river collapsed at Jagannathpur Telkupi area of Bhulbaria union in Pabna’s Sathia upazila on Thursday night.
Upazila administration and Water Development Board officials visited the scene yesterday morning.
Affected farmers said some influential and pro-Awami League locals, including Moyen Uddin, Mostafa Mollah, Tofaz Uddin, Makbul Hossain, Abdus Samad and Ranju Mridha, leased a river that had run dry near the dam, turned it into a pond and had been farming fish. They would supply water to the pond illegally using pipe placed under the dam.
The excessive flow of water caused the dam to collapse when water was being supplied on Thursday night. Several hundred bighas of cultivable land of nearby villages, including Sreepur, Shibpur, Dapunia, Madhabpur and Gurubashi, and at least 20 fish farms were completely submerged by the water.
Bhulbaria union Chairman Abdul Aziz Master said several hundred farmers were affected in the incident.
Sathia Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shafiqul Islam said he had visited the place and action would be taken against those responsible for collapse of the dam.
Local Water Development Board office Executive Engineer Kabibur Rahman said some people cut the dam to supply water to the pond but the gush of water caused a large part of the dam to break.
We had informed the higher authorities and had lodged general diary against the perpetrators, he said.
The executive engineer said the dam could not be repaired immediately as it was the end of the irrigation season and there was not enough harvest in the fields. A new dam would be built after receiving allocation in the new budget, he said.
Kabibur, however, claimed collapse of the dam did not affect farmers heavily.
