Four rivers of Joypurhat dry up

JOYPURHAT, Mar 10: Due to lack of water flow, four rivers of the district- Chhota Jamuna, Tulshiganga, Haraboti and Chiri have lost navigability and are disappearing as their beds have become silted and now turned into croplands.
There is no water in the rivers during drought. But, in rainy season, even a scanty rain submerges the fields and damages standing crops as the rivers are blocked by silt. Therefore, it has become necessary to dig the rivers flowing through the district.
Local Water Development Board (WDB) sources said, the total length of these four rivers is 123.35 kilometres. Of these, the length of the Chhota Jamuna River is 34.1 km and the width is 50 metres; the length of the Tulshiganga River is 51.50 km and the width is 20.14 metres to 30.17 metres; the length of the Haraboti River is 16.5 km and the width is 15 meters; and the length of Chiri River is 21.70 km and the width is 15 metres.
Once, large boats used to sail through the Chhota Jamuna and Tulshiganga rivers. But now the riverbeds have become croplands. Besides, by occupying the dam and by building home and business establishments, locals have blocked the river areas.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Ishrat Farzana said they have prepared a list of the river occupiers and initiatives are being taken to evict them. Currently, the 123.35 km of the rivers is covered mostly by paddy fields. 
Deputy Divisional Engineer of district WDB AK Nazmul Hasan said on December 22, 2012, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came on a tour in the district gave orders to dredge the four rivers. Accordingly, a development project was made for re-digging of the four rivers. At first the project was under Local Government Engineering Department. Later, it was transferred to the Ministry of Water Resources.
In September, 2016, in order to re-dredge 1.5 to 2 metres of the rivers out of 102.35 km, the WDB submitted a proposal to the ministry. Later, Taka 123 crore was sought to implement the work. The project was reconstituted in January 2018 and again through the ministry, the project was sent to Executive Committee of National Economic Council.
At present, the project is waiting for the approval, said lawmaker of Joypurhat-1 Constituency Advocate Shamsul Alam Dudu.