The river\\\'s blessings

An important and informative report published in a local newspaper justifies the river Narsunda being called a lucky river of Kishoreganj, as the river's bed soil is being used as fuel by the local people. Apart from using it for cooking, it is also being dried and sold as household fuel by the locals at Tk.400 to Tk. 500 per maund. The opinion of the users of this fuel is that it burns better than firewood, to which they are used to.

Local agriculture extension official feels that it can also be used as an organic fertiliser. If this is found to be so, authorities should advise the BCSIR and BARI to jointly investigate the fuel and fertiliser potential of this river's bed soil so that we can get to know more about the potential values of this gift from the nature.

Further more, the soil under the river bed may be dredged so that we can have an idea about the quantity of this potentially rich river bed soil can. This is to draw the attention of the relevant authorities as many may not be aware of this potentially useful resource.

Engr. S. A. Mansoor

Dhaka.

sam@dhakacom.com