River dried up to 'recover' parental land!
L-R: This dyke constructed by a local farmer in a bid to 'recover' his paternal land from the riverbed impedes the flow of Gopla River at Rajar Bathan in Srimongal upazila under Moulvibazar district. The perpetrator engages a dredger to level the riverbed that was dried up by him to prepare it as a farmland.Photo: STAR
Surprising though, a local farmer has dried up a portion of the Gopla River near Hail Haor in Srimongal upazila under the district to 'recover' his paternal land that had gone into the riverbed 16 years ago. Belal Ahmed, son of Abdul Kadir of Motiganj village in Srimongal upazila, constructed two dykes on the river at a small distance and pumped out water from the portion a few days ago. The act will cause flooding in the villages in the upstream and scarcity of water in the downstream, locals said. They have demanded immediate steps to remove the embankments for keeping the river flow normal. The Bilash Chhara River originating from the Tripura hill in India entered Bangladesh through Sindurkhan union under Srimongal upazila in Moulvibazar district and after crossing Motiganj in Srimongal upazila, it flows through the Hail Haor as Gopla River. About 16 years ago, the Gopla River changed its course and devoured large areas of crop lands, locals said, adding that farmer Abdul Kadir was one of the losers due to the change in river course. To 'recover' the land from the bed of Gopla River in 'Rajar Bathan' area, Kadir's son Belal Ahmed has constructed two embankments in the Gopla River. During a visit to the spot on March 13, this correspondent saw that water from the area between the embankments was pumped out and two dredgers were working to level the dry river bed. "Construction of embankments was completed 20 to 25 days ago. Belal Ahmed of Motiganj village rented this machine" said Mizanur Rahman, the dredger operator. The upper portion of the river at the place was seen full of water. When Contacted, Belal Ahmed told this correspondent, "Several years ago, the original river changed its course and devoured three acres of my paternal land. Now I am recovering my land from the river. I am not doing anything illegal." "Although it is my own land I put three ring culverts and constructed a separate drain for continuation of the river flow," he said. Md Nazir Ahmed, superintending engineer of Water Development Board Moulvibazar Circle office said, "No one has right to block the flow of any river. Such an act is treated illegal even if the land is one's own. I will take action in coordination with the administration." "When a river flows over any personal land, the owner loses his ownership. This is the law. I have ordered the upazila nirbahi officer of Srimongal to take action," Moulvibazar Deputy Commissioner Md Mostafizur Rahman said. Syed Rafiqul Islam, assistant land officer of Srimongal, said, "Following order from the UNO of Srimongal I conducted an enquiry and found the allegation against Belal Ahmed true. I have submitted enquiry report to the assistant commissioner (Land) of Srimongal." Srimongal UNO Md Ashfaqul Haque Chowdhury said on Saturday that the embankments would be removed within a day or two. However, the action was taken as of yesterday.
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