Lohagara (Chittagong) Correspondent :
A few influential people have started business with the rubber dam built on the Saraikhal canal of Lohagara, Chittagong. The rubber dam has now become a curse instead of a blessing for the farmer.
It is known that with the aim of increasing agricultural production by using surface water, this rubber dam was constructed by BADC in the financial year 2017-18 for the local marginal farmers in Saraikhal canal of Putibila Union. The amount of cultivable land under the dam is about 526 bighas. The then local UP chairman was elected as ex-officio president of the dam management council.
In 2020, when Muhammad Yunus was the chairman, about five hundred and twenty-six Bighas of land were under cultivation. The Dam Management Council then fixed the average cost of water per well at 3,000 taka.
When the marginal farmers could not accept their fixed water cost, the farmer leader Mohammad Farooq Uddin appealed to the Upazila Nirbahi Officer to reduce the water cost.
Then the Upazila Nirbahi Officer fixed the water cost at Tk 500 per bigha on the advice of the District Administrator.
According to this order, till 2021 and 2022, the cost of water per well was fixed at 500 taka. In the last UP elections, Putibila Union Awami League President Jahangir Hossain Manik was elected as the Chairman.
He became ex-officio chairman of the Rubber Dam Committee in 2023. Besides, instead of keeping actual farmers in the committee, he included local influencers.
Then Kani fixed the cost of water at 3000 Taka. Since then the farmers have to pay 3 thousand taka. If the money is not paid, they threatened to shut off the water.
Local farmers said, earlier we used to irrigate the land by damming canals on our own initiative. At that time, we used to spend 400-500 taka per well. Now the canal has become a government dam as if a curse has come down on us. Farooq Uddin, a farmer leader, said that Jahangir Hossain Manik was elected as the chairman and sold the water elsewhere by skinning the swollen water of the dam. In 2023, the marginal farmers were able to cultivate only 300 bighas of land for rice production. The remaining 200 bighas remain uncultivated. In 2024, he collected 3500 taka per well from the marginal farmers.
He also said that a portion of the money received from the farmers for water consumption was supposed to be deposited in the bank as a risk fund to deal with the danger, but the Dam Management Council has collected all the money. The Dam Management Council has not been able to give any account to the farmers for the year 2023.
Meanwhile, people complained that when the dam management council tried to inflate the dam without the presence of any person from the higher authorities while inflating the dam to give water to the land in 2024, the dam leaked.
As a result, canal water could not be raised for cultivation in the normal way and had to be cultivated using shallow machines.
Dam management council president Jahangir Hossain Manik was contacted in this regard, he said, “The UNO and the agriculture officer together have decided the irrigation price. I have no hand in this.”
When Lohagara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Inamul Hasan was contacted, he said, “I am in a meeting, come to the office tomorrow.”