Farmers' dream to cultivate Bhutiar Beel comes true
A farmer pointing to his land in the vicinity of Bhutiar Beel (water body) which remained waterlogged for the last ten years in Terokhada upazila of Khulna district.Photo: STAR
Around 60,000 farmers in Terokhada upazila of the district are now beaming with joy as the authorities concerned have started removing water logging from over 13,000 hectares of land in Bhutiar Beel (water body) to make it fit for farming again. Thousands of farmers had no other alternative but to take other professions and look for shelters elsewhere to earn their livelihood as they could not grow crops in the water body during the last ten years About 25 percent of the 13,000 hectares of land have already emerged with partial implementation of Tk 76 crore project, enabling farmers to grow crops there. Farmers have planted Boro saplings on the land. Water Development Board (WDB) sources said 50 percent of water would be pumped out in the next two or three months. WDB Executive Engineer Md Abdur Rob Howlader said a technical committee was formed in 2009 to conduct a survey on how to remove water logging from the water body so that the farmers can cultivate Irri-Boro on it during dry season. After conducting survey, the committee recommended allocation of Tk. 76 crore for implementation of the flood control, drainage and rehabilitation projects. On November 5 in 2009, the technical committee submitted a DPP (Detailed Project Pro forma) to the Ministry of Water Resources. Later, the ministry sent the DPP to the Ministry of Planning that approved the DPP on March 24 in 2010.
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