Saline water in Khulna damages boro saplings
Intrusion of saline water has damaged boro paddy saplings on 350 bighas of land in Dumuria upazila.
Locals said, a section of influential people brought saline water for shrimp farming by cutting a cross-dam of the Water Development Board (WDB) in Shovna union of the upazila.
Due to intrusion of the saline water, newly planted boro saplings on 350 bighas of land in Baro Beel (water body) started dying.
Locals said there are several thousand hectares of cultivable land in Baro Beel.
Farmers of the area mainly maintain their livelihood by cultivating paddy and sweet water fishes in the water body, they said.
Workers of the local influential group set up a large number of fish enclosures across the water body.
In these enclosures, they cultivate lobsters, ruhi, katol, mrigel and different other species of fishes.
Recently, farmers got a bumper output of aman paddy in the beel. Soon after harvesting it, they started planting boro there.
But the said local powerful people, including Majid, Abdullah and Paritosh, started to bring saline water in the beel by cutting the WDB cross-dam at No. 26 polder for cultivating lobster.
They are also supplying the saline water to many others on a commercial basis and encouraging them to cultivate lobster.
Contacted, Majid, Abdullah and Paritosh admitted that they brought saline water but said they would stop it very soon.
Affected farmers Gaffar Bawali, Pir Ali Sheikh and Babar Ali Mandal alleged that boro saplings on each of their three to five bighas of land were damaged due to saline water.
More than 50 farmers were affected due to the mindless act, they said.
Local union parishad chairman Abdul Gani said, he was always against the unauthorised withdrawal of saline water.
If saline water is brought by cutting the cross-dam, it will be stopped, he added.
Local WDB engineer Syed Abul Hasan, however, expressed his ignorance about it.
He said he would ask the relevant section officer to take necessary measures after investigation.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments