Fire destroys betel on 200 acres in 5 Kushtia villages
One of the betel plantations destroyed by Thursday's devastating fire at Juniadah village in Bheramara upazila of Kushtia district. Photo: STAR
Fire incidents destroyed betel on around 200 acres (nearly 600 bighas in local measure) of land in several remote villages of Daulatpur and Bheramara upazilas under Kushtia district on Thursday and Friday. The incidents that also destroyed ripe wheat on large areas at the same locations caused damage to around Tk 17 crore belonging to over about 100 farmers. The causes of the near simultaneous fire incidents are yet to be ascertained but the possibility of planned act to destroy the betel plantations cannot be ruled out, especially against the backdrop of recent torching of a number of betel plantations in Jhenidah and Barisal districts. Fire fighters from Bheramara upazila rushed to the spots on Thursday and Friday but the fire across large areas was too widespread to be tamed with their limited equipment, said Rafiqul Islam, team leader of the fire fighters. A large number of locals along with the betel farmers also thronged the spots but they stood helpless before the blazing inferno, said villagers. Several farmers set fire to burn off the remains after harvesting wheat at several fields in Maricha, Bhagjote and Bhurka villages in Daulatpur upazila and Juniadah and Kuchiamora villages in Bheramara upazila on Thursday morning and Friday evening, locals said. The fire spread fast due to summer air, said betel leaf farmer Sihabul Islam, who cultivated betel on 4.29 acres of land at Juniadah in this season. Locals said Arab Ali, a wheat farmer of Juniadah village, set fire to the waste of his wheat field on Thursday morning and it might have caused the fire in adjacent betel plantations. After failed attempt to contact Arab Ali, this correspondent talked to his brother. "Setting fire to burn off waste at corn fields is a usual practice of farmers," he said. Most of these betel leaf farmers are marginal and some of them took loan from local branches of Krishi Bank and other sources to cultivate betel. Marginal farmers Hanif Mondol, Mizan Ali and Nadim Islam said they are worried about repaying their loan and maintaining families after losing betel leaf on five bighas of land at Juniadah. A number of farmers also took lease the land from others paying advanced money. They also incur a huge loss. “I took lease of three biaghs land with an advanced payment Tk 18,000. I incur a total loss,” said Kabir Hossain of Kuchiamora.
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