80 villages inundated in Bhabadah

Around 80 villages have been flooded in at least six upazilas of Jashore and Khulna districts due to incessant rain last month.

Many villages in Abhaynagar, Monirampur and Keshabpur upazilas of Jashore and Dumuria upazila of Khulna have been inundated, said Ranajit Bawali, convener of Bhabadah Pani Nishkason Shangram Committee.

These villages fall under the Bhabadah waterlogged region, which has been a lifelong woe for hundreds and thousands of inhabitants of at least six upazilas in Jashore, Khulna and Satkhira, he said.

Locals are fearing that the much-talked Bhabadah water logging problem may reappear in region as the water has been stagnant and hasn't receded in the past week.

Meanwhile, Jashore Water Development Board has been trying to pump out the stagnant water to solve the problem from the beginning of the year.

Ranajit, however, said there is no option to solve the problem except for using tidal river management (TRM) system.

Shibapada Biswas, a resident and high school teacher of Dumurtola village in Jashore's Abhaynagar upazila, said, "A road that goes through either side of marshland is the only stretch of land that hasn't yet gone underwater. The rest of the village has been under the knee to waist-deep water since mid-September. Incessant rain for the last several days caused the flooding, which resulted in countless sufferings for us."

He and other locals said the Water Development Board's (WDB) initiative of pumping out water and sealing the Hori river at Bhabadah Sluice gate point in "impractical".

The Met office recorded 334 mm rainfall in Jashore during September.

Jashore WDB Executive Engineer Tauhidul Islam said the inundation happened due to the nonstop rain within a short period since the beginning of September.

The pumps that were installed are not capable of pumping out such huge quantities of water, he said.

"I heard around 80 villages have gone underwater but we don't have our statistics in this regard."

The engineer said it might take longer for the water to recede from the villages.

If more powerful pumps are installed, the problem may be solved, he hoped.

After already spending almost Tk 2.5 crore on the pumping project -- including setting up the pumps, paying electricity bills, and doing some river excavation work -- the WDB has proposed another water-pumping project at an estimated cost of Tk 50 crore.

However, locals rejected WDB's proposal at a meeting in Jashore on September 25 attended by Azadur Rahman Mallick, joint secretary of the Water Resources Ministry.