SYLHET, Nov 24: With a target to resolving the long standing water stagnancy on a vast haor in Jamalganj upazila of Sunamganj, the Water Development Board (WDB) would soon dredge a canal and its attached river.
It would help farming of Boro paddy on about 6,000 hectares of land around after 2 decades.
The vast tracts of land to the east of Fenarbak and Bhmlkhali unions in Jamalganj upazila remained uncultivated as huge silts had covered the area during the last two decades, sources informed.
Several thousand poor farmers of about 27 villages are still in much trouble as there had been no initiative to dredge the low-lying croplands.
"We hope the farmers would be able this time to cultivate the croplands on the area as initiatives are there for dredging the silted waterways", said an official in the DAE.
In some areas farmers had started preparing seedbeds. If the dredging were done successfully the farmers would be able to yield paddy worth about Tk 30 million, the official hoped.
A good number of farmers somehow managed to cultivate their lands partially by using power pumps till last year. But even then more than 80 per cent of the affected croplands remained barren that time.
The then Water Resources Minister Anwar Hossain Monju and a number of high officials of the ministry and WDB visited the affected area last year and assured of looking into resolving the long-standing problem, locals and officials informed.
WDB's Executive Engineer, Sunamganj Abu Baker Siddique said 4.25 km on the Kanaikhali river and 4 km on Gozaria canal would be dredged at a cost of Tk 8.7 million and Tk 20 million respectively.
Works would be started soon with a target to complete the job by January, the official added.
The accumulation of silts on the Pagnar haor started about over 20 to 25 years ago, causing much for the poor farmers of the neighbouring villages, said the Fenarbak Union Parishad chairman Karuna Sindhu Talukder.
Some of the well to do people, however, managed farming on some pockets by clearing out the water by using pumps, but others were not able to do so, he added.
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