One-third canals lost

Fisher Abdus Sukur, from Jhalakathi's Rajapur, is finding life hard nowadays. Whereas once it was easy to make a livelihood from fishing in Jhalakathi's canals, over the last few years the fish catch has drastically reduced. To Sukur, as much as with other fishers in the district, the cause of the trouble is blatantly obvious: the canal system is facing widespread destruction from land  grabbers, leaving local fish species without suitable habitat.

“What is my fault if I fill in the canal?” poses one land grabber, seeking anonymity. “Everybody  is doing it.”

According to Jhalakathi's deputy director of fisheries, Pritish Kumar Mandal, in the last decade alone the district has lost one-third of its canals due to illegal land grabbing and a lack of re-excavation work. “Fish and other aquatic species suffer the most,” he says. “The canals are  particularly important as fish spawning grounds; many species will not survive if action is not  taken to save the canals.”

Fishers are not alone in facing hardship due to the degraded canal system. Agriculture is also  affected, with many fields left water-logged during the rainy season, where once the canals  allowed rainfall to drain quickly into adjoining rivers.

In the dry months the problem is just the opposite: the canals were once an invaluable water  source. “I used to grow watermelons,” says one farmer, Belal from Dakkhin Rajapur. “But for the  last four seasons I couldn't due to a lack of water.”

“The canals were the soul of dry season agriculture in these areas,” says Rajapur's agriculture  officer Md Riaj Bahadur. “They were vital for irrigation.”

“So much agricultural land remains fallow during the dry season nowadays,” agrees Sheikh Abu Bakar, Jhalakathi's  deputy director of agriculture. “There is just no way to easily irrigate the fields.

Approximately 19,990 hectares are severely affected by canal destruction.”

According to agriculture department statistics, Jhalakathi has 489 canals. Both agriculture and  fisheries department officials say at least 272 of them require urgent re-excavation work to  ensure their survival.

Yet the reality is that more canal land is illegally occupied every day.

“We are serving warning notices to canal grabbers in Jhalakathi city areas,” says Md Hamidul  Haque, Jhalakathi's deputy commissioner. “They have to remove all illegal structures and those  who do not comply will face an eviction drive. We will do the same right across the district.”

Jhalakathi's farmers and fishers can only hope the deputy commissioner's office does not dilly- dally. Once iconic to the district, the canal system that facilitated river transport, fishing and  agriculture may soon prove to be degraded beyond the point of restoration.