River communication in the district is being disrupted due to unplanned construction of hundreds of bridges, culverts and box culverts on rivers and canals.

Most of the bridges and culverts were constructed without keeping the required navigation height from the water level in canals and rivers, water vehicle drivers said.

The navigable height of bridges and culverts over most of the canals is so low that a boat or any other water vehicle cannot pass under them, said trawler driver Rafiqul Islam in Rajapur upazila.

The structures are disrupting river communication, said trader Md Masum, who transports his goods by trawler as it is the cheapest and safest way for transporting goods.

“I used to transport agricultural goods on boats to several markets five years ago, but the canal routes have been closed since then due to construction of the structures without proper navigable height,” said Bishwajit, a farmer at Kathalia.       

The markets in the district were set up decades ago on banks of the rivers or canals for easy transportation of goods and communication, but the village  waterways are now on the edge of destruction, many villagers told this correspondent.

“I used to transport my goods cheaply by trawlers, but now I have to use trucks at higher fare as trawlers cannot pass under most of the bridges and culverts,” said sand trader Abdul Mannan.

Several traders said their transportation cost was very low in the past when they could use waterways, but now they have to pay much more. 

“I used to transport my goods by river from Jhalakathi to Rajapur till 2005, but the route has become inoperative due to construction of bridges,” said elderly trader Shajahan at Rajapur Bazar.

“It is mandatory for Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and Zila Parishad to get navigation clearance before constructing any structure over canals or rivers,” said Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Deputy Director Md Azmal Huda.

No one can disrupt the navigation of canals and rivers by constructing any structure over them without clearance certificate, but bridges and culverts constructed before 2007 did not have any clearance certificate, he added.

“At present, no bridge or culvert is constructed over any river or canal without navigability clearance,” said Jhalakathi LGED Executive Engineer Md Ruhul Amin. He said most of the bridges and culverts were built decades ago without thinking about the consequences of losing navigability.

“We now take navigability certificate from BIWTA before constructing any new bridge or culvert,” he added. 

“Proper navigability is the first priority for us while constructing any bridge,” said RHD Executive Engineer Golam Mostafa.