GAIBANDHA, Mar 09: Gaibandha is a riverine district where there are 165 chars. But, many riverbank ghats and business establishments have been closed due to lack of navigability in the Brahmaputra channel.
So, the income of the people of various professions, including sailors, has come down.
During the monsoons, the grass gets submerged and in the summer the sand layer falls.
Where the cultivation is going on throughout the year and the sedimentation at the bottom of the river has reduced the carrying capacity of the river.
Along with this, there is no end to sufferings in the transportation of various products such as almonds, corn, jute, chili, onion, garlic produced in the grasslands.
Balasi Naughat in Fulchhari Upazila of Gaibandha is one of the means of communication between Islampur, Dewanganj of Jamalpur district, Chilmari, Roumari, Rajibpur and Ulipur of Kurigram district.
Many small rivers were connected with the Brahmaputra river. As a result, cargo ships from different areas could easily come to these ghats. As the water recedes since the beginning of winter, several waterways have been closed due to the rise of hundreds of sandbars.
Services on Phulchhari-Balasi, Tistamukhghat-Bahadurabad, Ghazaria-Galna, Hazirhat, Singria-Jhanzhair, Gunvari-Kalasona and Ghazaria-Fulchhari routes are being disrupted.
Boat traffic has been stopped on the inter-district waterways Phulcharighat-Guthail, Syedpur-Rajibpur, Teestamukhghat-Amtali and Teestamukhghat-Sariakandi.
However, due to the navigability crisis, boats have to travel around many ways.
Due to the closure of several waterways, the transportation of goods and passengers has suffered. Even if the boat takes risks in another direction, the passengers are in trouble. It consumes more oil and time.
Besides, almost the same situation has occurred in the Jamuna river. As a result, the boat movement on various routes has stopped and losses have to be calculated.
Although dredging has been done in the part concerned of the Brahmaputra, there is no sign of improvement in navigability, so the passengers and boatmen who travel by the waterway have expressed their anger.
Papul Sarkar, who is in charge of navigation at Balasighat, said that due to lack of navigability and the rising tide, the launch movement has stopped for the last four months.
The matter is being constantly communicated with the BIWTA.
"The water that we see in front of us is also the contribution of the BIWTA. They are also trying to run the launch. As an alternative system, boats are plying from this Balasighat to Bahadurabad ghat. Four boats are plying from this ghat on schedule.
Haresh Mia, the boatman of Phulchhari ghat, said Phulchhari Tistamukh Ghat was once a famous seaport. Due to the crisis of navigation, those rivers are no longer meeting fair.
There is only one boat plying to Bahadurabad ghat at 10:30am every day.
A few traders, including Shahidul Islam, of Balasighat area said thousands of agricultural products and various goods were imported and exported every day by boat from Teesta mouth to Brahmaputra river.
But due to non-availability of water in the river, the goods are now being brought by road at a high cost.
Deputy Assistant Engineer of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Md Shahidur has said that dredging work is going on so that the launch can move on that route.
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