<i>Dying Shakha Borak River needs urgent excavation</i>
Once a profusely flowing watercourse, Shakha Barak River in Moulvibazar district turns virtually dead in the dry season while it appears like a narrow canal during the rains (inset). Photo: STAR
Locals call it Shakha Borak River. But the watercourse dries up fully in winter and during the monsoon it appears like a narrow canal. People have made houses and planted trees at many places of the silted riverbed. Now a visitor from other areas can hardly think it was once a river with navigability throughout the year. The 20-kilometre-long Shakha Borak River originates from Kushiyara River at Khalilpur under Moulvibazar Sadar upazila and meets the Bizna River in Nabiganj upazila of Habiganj district. Several elderly people said only 40 to 50 years ago the river was so deep and wide that big boats with the capacity to carry 500 maunds of goods plied it easily. Hundreds of boats plied the river daily as people used it for communication, transportation of goods and fishing. During a recent visit to Khalilpur and Monumukh areas, this correspondent saw that people have encroached the silted riverbed and made houses and planted trees in many areas. Some people were seen cultivating paddy on the riverbed. Locals said a project to re-excavate the river was taken about 30 years ago but the work was stalled only after clearing weeds from the riverbed. People of Mubarakpur, Nasirpur, Fatehpur, Alalpur, Srichandrapur, Lamua, Chanpur, Katarai, Mohammadpur, Gurarai, Kesobchar villages under Khalilpur union parishad (UP), Bahadurpur, Bade-Fatehpur, Sadhuhati, Sharabpur villages of Monumukh UP of Moulvibazar Sadar upazila are worst affected due to siltation of Shakha Borak River. A similar situation is prevailing up to Nobiganj upazila where the Shakha Barak meets the Bizna River. There are thousands of acres of paddy land on both the banks of the river but the farmers are deprived of irrigation facility due to drying up of the watercourse. People of these villages have been demanding re-excavation of the Shakha Borak River for long. "The Shakha Borak has been silted up and many people have constructed houses there. We had submitted application to the UNO and tahsilder (union land official) to evict the illegal encroachers. Re-excavation of Shakha Borak is urgently needed to provide irrigation facility to the farmers," said Qumruzzaman Konor, member of Khalilpur UP. In May this year, the upazila administration served notice to 25 encroachers to remove their houses from the bed of Shakha Borak River and they have sought time to leave the land, said Moulvibazar Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Umme Salma Tanzia. In winter, the administration will take action to evict them, she added. "We have taken an infrastructure renovation project on Shakha Borak under Water Management Improvement Project. Now consultants are studying the project. After completion of the study, work for implementation of the project will start," M Aminul Islam, executive engineer of the Water Development Board, Moulvibazar, said.
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