RAJSHAHI, Apr 19: Re-excavation of a 37km long silted canal has ushered a new horizon of agriculture and fisheries for millions of people living surrounding the canal. The Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) was implementing the project.
The entire agriculture, fisheries and environmental scenario of once silted Beel Monsur of Naogaon, Nalir Beel of Chalk Pakuria and Hamrar Beel of Choarpara situated under Naogaon Sadar, Mohadevpur and Manda upazilas is going to change with the re-excavation of these nearly filled canals.
It is learnt, even couples of years ago, the entire huge mass land beside the canals remained uncultivated because the early rainfall in Baishakh (Mid April-May) used to inundate the land creating a perennial water logging and often destroyed the standing crop by flash flood created by over flowing of water of those canals. "For last ten years, the cropping situation was so worrying that farmers with their lands beside those canals (beels) were even afraid of 'dreaming of harvesting their crop' from the area without facing natural hazard", said Abul Hossain of Bhimpur village under Mohadevpur upazila.
Aiming at removing plight of the farmers of the area, BMDA took up a project to re-excavate those filled up canals in 2016. The project entitled 'Extension of irrigation by using surface water and removal of water logging' got the approval from ECNEC (Executive Committee of National Economic Council) in the same year. Under the project, BMDA started to turn some 6,500 acres of single-yield cropland a year to double-yield crop land and already some 23 km of bottom of the beels has been dug and by next June rest of 9.0 km of filled canals excavation will be completed. Due to excavation of bottom of those canals, there was sufficient water in canals now and this year farmers were using the water for cultivation of Boro paddy and fishermen were also seen to catch fish from the canals.
BMDA sources said after completion of the ongoing excavation, more than 0.15 million people of the region will be direct benefited. Their crop will no more damage in untimely flood and they will be able to cultivate all seasonal and Rabi crops on their field.
ATM Mahfuzur Rahman, director of Extension of Irrigation by Using Surface Water and Removal of Water Logging Project of BMDA, said due to massive siltation, the bottom of the canals were almost filled up. Having no capacity to hold water by those canals, surrounding land of both sides of the canals remained water logged for major of time of the year. After excavation of the canals, the cropping scenario of the region has been abruptly improved. Now, farmers were using water of the canals free of cost for producing crops and rearing of fish there. The production of boro paddy was satisfactory at the canal areas this year and farmers were hoping to get a bumper harvest. They were expecting to get 25 to 28 maunds of paddy from a bigha of land.
Mostafizur Rahman, assistant engineer of BMDA, Naogaon zone, said farmers living at surrounding villages of the canals were already reaping the fruit of benefit of the canal. The Tk 50 million project is expected to be completed by June 2019. After completion of the project millions of people of some 100 villages of the region will be benefited and there will be a positive chance in socio-economic and environmental condition of people of the region.
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