Vessel movement has almost stopped in Thukra-Hamkura and Kharnia rivers as parts of the Thukra-Hamkura have been nearly filled up. Kharnia’s condition is no better, either.
The situation is threatening the environment of 54 unions surrounding Dumuria. Four polders and 18 sluice-gates have already been shut off due to excessive sedimentation.
Dumuria Land Office says about 4,500 acres of char area have already been occupied by illegal brick fields, hatchery, factories, households, poultry and dairy farms. Many land encroachers even sold or rented out the land.
Canals connected to the river are filled with hyacinths, and waterlogging has become a common feature in this area during monsoon.
Jamal Uddin, a farmer, and Bimal Chandra Boiragi, a teacher, said every year thousands of people of Dumuria, Fultola, Tala, Jashore and Keshabpur upazilas are left marooned. The people are forced to abandon their houses and move into emergency shelters.
The General Secretary of the upazila’s brick field association Abdul Latif Jamaddar turned down the claim that they were killing off the rivers.
“Brick fields are the reason for the rivers’ survival in Dumuria,” he claimed. “Sediments are dredged regularly which helps the rivers remain navigable.”
But Bangladesh Water Development Board Executive Engineer in Khulna Md Shariful Islam is not convinced. “The only way to restore the people’s regular lives is dredging the rivers,” he said.
“Polders and sluice-gates can be restored if we free the encroached land,” he said.
Local parliamentarian Narayan Chandra Chanda said a project has been taken to evict encroachers from char areas and dredge the rivers.