Once waterways used to be the only means of communication at Mathbaria upazila. Hundreds of canals and tributaries of the Baleshwar and Bishkhali rivers flowed through it.

However, at present, these canals, especially ones inside the municipality town, are barely alive as many have been grabbed by influential people. Additionally, narrow bridges and sluice gates have been constructed over them.

Locals said since Mathbaria's land price is the highest in the district, influential people have grabbed these state-owned lands right under the nose of the authorities concerned.

The price of one-decimal land in the municipality town is between Tk 20-50 lakh depending on their location, whereas the price of the same land is Tk 10-12 lakh in the district town, added locals.

"Land on both sides of the canals has been grabbed by politically or locally influential people," said Emadul Haque Khan, a resident of the town, adding that they raised their concerns over the role of the authorities at different meetings but to no avail.

"If there's a fire anywhere in the town, there's no scope of getting water to put it out," said another local Azizul Haque Salim.

Sadhin Khan Hira, another municipality resident said, "We cannot explain how much suffering we're facing due to canal grabbing."

Contacted, Abdus Salek, executive engineer of Mathbaria municipality, said as there are sluice gates in some of the canals, no water vehicle can move through them.

UNO Urmi Bhowmick said, "Since the canals are under the jurisdiction of the Pirojpur district council, we cannot directly take steps against grabbers."

She also said a formal complaint needs to be lodged to the council in this regard.

Asked, Rebeka Khan, chief executive of Pirojpur District Council, confirmed that influential people are behind canal grabbing.

"We've asked the district administration to equip us with sufficient manpower to take a step against grabbers," she added.