Floodwater washes away about 205 tonnes of fish from Tangail ponds

TANGAIL, July 21: Floodwater has washed away fish of 686 ponds in the district, causing a huge loss to hundreds of farmers in 234 villages under six upazilas.

The District Adminis-tration sources said flood affected the district a week ago as persistent heavy rain swelled the Jamuna river.

The worst-affected upazilas are: Bhuapur, Gopalpur, Kalihati, Sadar, Delduar and Nagarpur, sources added.

"Around 205 tonnes of fish worth Tk 20 million to 50 million have been washed away from different water bodies across the area", District Fisheries Officer Md Nurul Islam told this correspondent on Sunday.

According to the Water Development Board, the water level of the mighty Jamuna was 94cm above the danger level at Sirajganj point on Saturday, inundating vast areas of the upazilas, including the char areas.

Shamsur Rahman, a fish cultivator in Nagarpur upazila, said his pond on two bighas of land was inundated and fish worth Tk 0.15 million has been washed away.

"Other fish cultivators are also in the same situation", he added.

A good number of fish farmers in the district urged the government to take post flood rehabilitation programme so that they can recover the loss.