On the way to Ranjit Kumar Bawali's home in Dumurtola village of Jashore's Bhabadah, a young boy giving directions pointed towards a slim bridge made of bamboo.

It had to be crossed to get to the house as the area has been under water for months.

As this correspondent reached there, Ranjit, a farmer and convener of Bhabadah Water Drainage Movement Committee, said, "See how we've been living? It's been over two months that my courtyard has been inundated.

"It was full of fruits and vegetables, all of which has rotted in the knee-deep water. Tilapia fish swim here now."

Earlier, the waterlogging was confined to the Bhabadah region. "But over the years, the problem has spread to other areas," he said.

In the district, Bhabadah is often called the "Sorrow of Jashore". It has been a victim of waterlogging since the early 1980's, when all the nearby rivers had begun drying up after the construction of embankments and sluice gates.

The Bhabadah Water Drainage Movement Committee was formed in 1982 to combat the waterlogging problem in the area.

Since its formation, the committee has been sharing practical knowledge on dealing with waterlogging from the grassroots to the policymakers; it has held demonstrations for the implementation of the Tidal River Management (TRM) system; and has regularly urged relevant officials, including those of the region's Water Development Board, to keep the upstream and surrounding rivers' estuaries flowing.

However, at least 300 villages of Jashore's Abhaynagar, Manirampur and Keshabpur; Khulna's Dumuria and Phultala; and Satkhira's Sadar and Tala upazilas are now facing severe waterlogging following heavy rains in August, affecting at least 10 lakh people.

Meanwhile, over 200 schools in these areas have been inundated, depriving thousands of children from education over the past two months.

The farmers too faced their share of losses.

"All the farmers in the region, including myself, have lost their Aman crops … Owners of all fish enclosures lost their fish.

"If this continues even for a few more days, all the people of the region will have to be completely dependent on relief," Ranjit said.

He added that most of the people have already sold their livestock and other valuables just to survive.

The situation was this severe in 2007 and then 2016. "Other years, it wasn't as bad and long-lasting as there was less rain.

"Our fate depends on rains. If there are heavy rains in a year, our whole area goes under water."

As this correspondent ventured further into the village, he found all the homes, schools, croplands and fish enclosures on both sides of the road underwater.

In the neighbouring village of Hatgachha in Manirampur upazila, Chandana Mandal approached the correspondent and asked him to write her name down for relief. "No one is bothered about giving us any relief.

"We only received 10kg of rice in the last two months … I initially stayed in my house when the waterlogging began. But in a few days, my house, made of mud, collapsed. We had to make a makeshift hut on the road."

SCHOOLS AND HOMES

A total of 236 educational institutions, including schools, colleges, and madrasas -- 66 in Khulna, 115 in Jashore, and 54 in Satkhira -- have been affected by the waterlogging.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Sanjit Kumar Biswas, headmaster of Hatgachha Secondary School, said the school has been under water for two months and the students have not been able to attend classes the whole time.

Khandakar Ruhul Amin, divisional deputy director of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in Khulna region, said the heads of the affected educational institutions have been instructed to find nearby places on higher grounds with the help of locals to hold exams.

In Abhaynagar's Sundali union, 21 of the 25 villages are completely under water, said Union Parishad Chairman Vikash Roy Kapil. The 19 educational institutions in the union have all been closed.

"Many people have had to leave their homes and find shelter elsewhere."

Sana Abdul Mannan, chairman of the upazila's Cholisia union, said his union was the worst affected and lamented the lack of government help.

MM Abul Kalam Azad, chairman of Tentulia union parishad in Satkhira's Tala upazila, said all 17 villages in his union are affected, and 11 of them have been inundated for over two months.

"With the current drainage situation, this water won't recede even in the next two months."

Abu Bakar lives in Shirashuni village of the upazila's Sobhashini union, where the borders of all three districts meet.

"In the 65 years of my life, I've never seen waterlogging lasting so long in my area. Earlier, it would happen a few kilometres away from my village. The problem has now reached us."

Gazi Abdul Hamid, joint convener of the water drainage movement committee, said the Bhabadah sluice gate, which does not work and lacks the drainage capability, is a death trap.

"We demand urgent initiation of the TRM; the quick repair of the Aamdanga canal [near Noapara of Jashore's Abhaynagar upazila]; and legal action against local representatives, ministers and other government officials who were involved in corruption when projects to curb the waterlogging were initiated."

TRM SYSTEM

Since the constructions of polders (a network of embankments and sluice gates along riverbanks) in the 1960s, the sediment that river water carries in during high tide has been accumulating on the riverbeds.

TRM is supposed to temporarily reverse the process.

Under the TRM, a canal, which connects a river and a beel, is dredged to allow the river water to flow into the beel so that the sediment is carried in and the low-lying area is elevated, while some of it is later carried back into the sea during low tide.

Ranjit said the construction of dams and polders has obstructed the natural river water flow in the region.

"The waterlogging in Bhabadah is nature's revenge. Farmers in the southwestern region have a centuries-old indigenous innovation called 'Jowaradhar' [now called Tidal River Management]. Building a dam enclosing three sides of a floodplain adjacent to the main river, while leaving a portion of the embankment open, would allow the tidal water to flow onto the floodplain.

"This way, the height of the area would gradually rise as sediments coming in with high tide would be deposited. During low tide, the water would return to the sea, maintaining the river's navigation and preventing waterlogging. The implementation of the TRM is imperative for Bhabadah."

Experts from CEGIS first came to know about the system from the locals of Bhabadah in 1997-1998 when they visited the area for research purposes. After an assessment, they recommended TRM.

Bangladesh Water Development Board (WDB) first implemented it in Kedaria beel from 2001-2005 and then in Khuksia beel from 2006-2012.

It was later supposed to implement TRM in Jashore's Beel Kapalia but could not due to protests by shrimp farmers. The system has since been completely removed from Jashore.

In Satkhira, they implemented it in Beel Pakhimara temporarily from 2015-2021.

THE SOLUTION?

Gouranga Nandy, chairman of the Centre for Environment and Participatory Research, a non-government organisation in Khulna, said it is not possible to restore the flow of the Mathabhanga, Bhairab and Kobadak rivers, as the upstream has been illegally grabbed and the lower parts of the rivers were severed from the river network years ago.

"To restore the tidal flows of these rivers, the government needs to implement the TRM system."

However, the WDB installed water pumps at the Bhabadah sluice gate on the Teka river as a solution, which has proven to be ineffective due to the negligible amount of water being pumped out.

Farukh Ahmed, who operates those pumps, said nine out of 10 pumps run every day -- four of them have diametres of 32 inches, while the others are of six inches.

"We operate the pumps round the clock. But this year, there is too much water to pump out."

Palash Kumar Banerjee, executive engineer of Jashore WDB, said the pumps have not helped as the rains have been heavy this monsoon.

However, apart from water being pumped out, he said, there are excavation works going on in over 2.1km of the Hori river in Jashore to help the drainage.

ATM Shamsul Alam, director of the socio-economic institution division of CEGIS, said, "The TRM showed success in all beels [when it was implemented earlier]". The CEGIS made a rotational chart of 40 beels in which the implementation of the TRM would resolve the waterlogging issue.

"The southern part of the country is an active delta and its land is still under the process of formation... This process was interrupted by the polders, resulting in such waterlogging events."

Asked, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser of the environment ministry, said the situation in Bhabadah has been worsening every day.

"We need to do two things first – dredge the [Hori] river in the lower estuary and then dredge the Aamdanga canal.

"We've already sent five dredgers to start work on the river. We've also consulted with the locals to develop a plan to resolve the problem. I'll visit Bhabadah soon and take necessary measures."

Locals said if 35km of the riverbed, from the Bhabadah sluice gate to Kulbari in Dumuria upazila's Kharnia union, is dredged, complete water drainage will be possible.

(Our Khulna Correspondent contributed to this report.)