'Solve waterlogging, end woe of people in Kobadak basin'
Leaders of Pani Committee (committee for water), an organisation floated by local people), yesterday urged the government to take measures to solve the persisting waterlogging problems in the Kabodak basin to mitigate sufferings of the affected people.
They said over 2,00,000 people in 24 unions under five upazilas in Satkhira and Jessore districts remained marooned as water from the silted river Kabodak entering the areas through breaches of embankments and due to overflowing of banks, they said at a press conference organised by the committee at a hotel in the town.
Affected people are sufferings for lack of food and pure drinking water as waterlogging is hampering agriculture and other income generating activities, they said.
Stressing the need to take up a long-term project to dredge silted Kabodak River in the south-western region to solve the waterlogging, they urged the government to declare the under-water areas as a 'disaster zone'.
The worst affected upazilas are Kalaroa and Tala in Satkhira and Manirampur, Keshabpur and Jhikargachha upazilas in Jessore district, Pani Committee President Principal ABM Safiqul Islam said while reading out a written statement.
Over 10,000 homeless people have taken shelter on high lands in the affected areas and the people are facing acute scarcity of food and pure drinking water, he said.
The problem has aggravated over the years due to declining flow of the Ganges, deposit of silt in the Kabodak, unplanned coastal embankments and shrimp cultivation, he said.
He demanded that the government arrange sufficient relief for the affected people and their rehabilitation after receding of the stagnant water.
Expressing concern over spread of skin diseases and diarrhoea in the affected areas, he urged the political parties and NGOs to stand by the affected people.
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