Eid celebrations elude 5 lakh people in Kobadak basin
Persistent water-logging affects livelihood
A boy uses a raft for movement from his waterlogged house at Kashipur village in Tala upazila in Satkhira district.Photo: STAR
The joy of coming Eid-ul-Fitre seems to elude over five lakh people of 16 unions under seven upazilas in Jessore, Khulna and Satkhira districts as standing crops were damaged due to persistent water-logging in the Kabodak basin. The perennial water-logging has worsened this year as rain water and water from the silted river Kabodak inundated vast areas. Most farmers and day labourers are passing hard days and Eid shopping is far beyond their means. Water-logging affects over five lakh people living in Tala, Kalaroa and Assassuni upazilas in Satkhira, Manirampur, Keshabpur and Jhikargachha upazilas in Jessore and Paikgachha upazila in Khulna districts. “People of these areas, mostly dependent on agriculture, face hardship due to lack of work in the agriculture sector as lands remain uncultivated due to persistent water-logging. This year price hike of essentials has added to their hardship. Farmers and day labourers cannot buy food, let alone new cloths,” advocate Kamruzzaman, Nehalpur UP chairman in Manirampur upazila, said. “Farmers and day labourers in the Kabodak basin areas cannot think of Eid shopping this year because the farmers could not cultivate crops due to water-logging,” said Matiar Rahman, chairman of Sarulia UP in Tala upazila. As this correspondent visited different markets in the upazilas on the Kabodak basin, several traders said sale is very dull ahead of Eid-ul-Fitre. “Only families of government and non-government service-holders are coming to markets for Eid shopping,” said Akbar Ali, a garment shop owner at Manirampur upazila headquarters. "I went to market with the money got from selling a small goat but could not buy cloths for all the family members as the prices are high," Farmer Abdur Razzak of village Jhapa in Manirampur upazila in Jessore said Encroachment by land grabbers and raising of bamboo barriers by so-called fish farmers have hastened the death of Kobadak that is drying up and reduced to water pockets at many points and flooding recurs every year with spiraling ferocity as a result, said Anwarul Islam, chairman of Deara union parishad (UP) in Kalaroa upazila. “The Kabodak is the lifeline of over 50 lakh people of these districts. Gradual silting up of the river is resulting in more unemployment in the area. The river cannot be allowed to die to serve the interest of a few,” he said.
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