Adamdighi (Bogra) Correspondent :
Barendra multi-purpose development project on Iramti Canal and Raktdah Bill flowing through Adamdighi Upazila and Naogaon district of Bogra has destroyed the farmers dream. The governemnt constructed 2 dams of 7 feet high to hold the rainwater. Now if it rains for a single day, this water drainage channel gets flooded and the crops of thousands of bighas of land are destroyed. Every year the pictorial report of this dam is published in various local and national dailies but till date the administration has not budged. So the local farmers were forced to break some parts of this dam of Iramati Canal.
But even that is of no use. Due to these dams, the continuous rain water of the last few days and the water coming down from the upstream cannot flow through this canal towards the downstream. Therefore, thousands of bighas of Aman paddy on both sides of this canal have been submerged under water. Local farmers said that the farmers of this region will face loss of lakhs of taka.
Besides, an influential person of the area occupied a large part of Raktadah Bill south of Chakparil village of Raninagar upazila and built a fish farm, so the water is not drained properly. The local farmers and local people demanded the administration to demolish these two dams of Iramati Canal and Raktadah Bill and free the canal from illegal occupants and drain the water. It is known that the length of Iramati canal is about 14 km. Vathanda of Dupchanchia upazila originates in the low land. Dupchanchia, Adamdighi, Raninagar, Akkelpur, Kshetlal upazila’s fields run down and fall through this canal during monsoon. This water flows from the Raktadah Canal to Atrai River through various canals. This is the normal course of this Iramati canal. At various times these shallow canals are excavated when they are filled. This canal was re-excavated last year in 2013. This canal has been refilled and is now filled with kachri pana. At that time, before reaching the Konchkuri railway bridge in Adamdighi upazila, the contractor escaped after finishing the excavation work of the canal. Where digging as wide and deep as it should have been done was not done.
It is further learned that a bridge has been constructed for public movement on the side of Chakparil village to go to the Raktdah Bill of Iramati Canal. On the western side of the bridge, there is no canal. A class of influential people in the area have grabbed hundreds of bighas of government Khas land and created huge fish farms.
Yachin Ali, a farmer of Kesharta village in the upazila, said that if there is a little rain, the paddy of our land sinks under water. We, together with many farmers of the area, broke some parts of the said dam a few years ago. But at present, the water flow has decreased due to siltation and filling of the canal. Abdul Hannan, a farmer of Paril village in the neighboring Raninagar upazila, said that due to this dam built on the Iramati canal on the south side of our Paril bridge and because of the overflow of water, hundreds of bigha of our paddy land gets submerged in water when it rains. Our request to the neighboring two upazila administrations is to look into this canal as soon as possible and arrange to solve these problems. Adamdighi Upazila Executive Officer Rumana Afroz said that due to the dams of the two Barendra projects under Adamdighi Upazila and water coming down from the upstream, a sudden flood occurred and around 60 hectares of land in the lower part of 2 unions of the upazila went under water. Boro plantations are under threat. Due to this, the farmers face huge losses. He assured that necessary measures will be taken after investigation on the ground.