Tourism businesses in Sunamganj are bouncing back gradually after suffering significant losses for over two months due to three rounds of flood and political instability. Restrictions in several tourist areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts redirected tourists to Sunamganj’s famed Haor region, including Tanguar Haor and the Tahirpur border areas, providing a much-needed boost to local businesses. Houseboat owners said they suffered losses amounting to around Tk 50 crore during this period. Tour operators said they are now facing overwhelming demand, with all houseboats fully booked in advance. Travel ban hits tourism businesses in CHT hard Popular tourist destinations like Tanguar Haor, Shaheed Siraj Lake (Niladri), Shimul Garden, and the Jadukata River are now filled with visitors. Aziz Sarkar, a banker from Rajshahi, expressed his amazement after exploring the region for the first time. “The Tanguar Haor has amazed us greatly. We are overjoyed. We have never seen such large haor before. The diversity of the haor, especially the settlements on its shores, and how they survive and live, has left a mark on our minds,” said Aziz, who came with a group of 36 people, most of whom are bank employees. Tourist Mahbuba Rahman Sathi, a tourist from Dhaka, said, “We had been planning to visit Tanguar Haor for a long time. The weather is good now, so we came. Our group consists of 12 family members. Sylhet is always beautiful, but the haor is even more beautiful. We’ve been touring in a houseboat since morning. It feels great.” However, the region’s poor road infrastructures are challenge for visitors, said some tourists. Moulvibazar Travel Guide: Explore the Top Tourist Attractions “The road from Sunamganj to Tahirpur is in bad shape. Women and children, in particular, had a hard time getting here. These things stand as obstacles to the development of tourist areas,” said Manjurul Islam Soumik from Feni. He also raised concerns about the lack of visible tourist police and disconnected phone numbers listed on safety sign boards. Responding to these complaints, Habibur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of the Tourist Police in Sunamganj, explained that his mobile phone had been out of service due to damage but is now operational. “We have 8 members. The tourist police are working round the clock to ensure the safety of tourists,” he said. Arian Emon, CEO of Haimanti Houseboat, said, “We have incurred losses of around Tk 50 crore in the past two months. Currently, due to the restrictions in Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari tourists are coming to the Haor. All our boats are fully booked. Many are still trying to book. There’s now a festive atmosphere in the Haor,” he said. Trip to Tanguar Haor, Sunamganj: Majestic aquatic beauty soaking the horizon

Seventy percent of the Boro paddy in haor areas have been harvested, the Ministry of Agriculture (Bangladesh) has said. In Sylhet, 55 percent paddy was harvested, in Moulvibazar 70 percent was harvested, in Habiganj 67 percent, in Sunamganj 73 percent, in Kishoreganj 58 percent, in Netrokona 77 percent, and in Brahmanbaria 67 percent of Boro paddy was harvested, according to a press release of the ministry today. Boro paddies were sown on 452,000 hectare of land in haor areas of seven districts this year.And a total of 953,000 hectares of Boro paddy has been cultivated in the highland outside of the haors. The production target is 40 lakh tonnes of rice, said the release. Read More: Record Boro production to be achieved this year: Agriculture Minister Recently, Bangladesh's Agriculture Minster Abdur Razzaque launched the Boro paddy harvest in haor areas of Sunamganj ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. At the time, he said if there was no natural disaster and rice can be brought home on time, there will be record production in Boro this year. He said only in Sunamganj, around 1,000 combined paddy harvesters are working, adding that there will be no problem in harvesting paddy this time. According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, Boro has been sown on 50 lakh hectares of land across the country this year, while the production target is 21.5 million metric tonnes of rice. Read More: Govt to procure 16.50 lakh tonnes Boro paddy, rice In the last fiscal year 2021-22, Boro rice was sown on 48,14,000 hectares of land, and about 20.2 million tonnes of rice were produced in Bangladesh, the release said.

A 12-year-old schoolgirl died as a boat capsized in Burikeyari haor in Fenchuganj upazila of Sylhet early Wednesday, said police. The deceased was identified as Morshed Jahan Ferdousi, of the upazila. She was a sixth grader of Fariza Khatun Girls’ High School. Read: Lightning strike leaves fisherman dead in Sylhet A boat carrying 17-18 people including Ferdousi sank in the haor around 9 am, said Md Shafayet Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Fenchuganj police station. Although locals rescued the other people the girl drowned in the haor. Later, police fished out the body, said the OC.

Body of a Rural Electrification Board (REB) officer, who went missing in a haor faced with  with a heavy current while fishing Monday, was recovered in the district Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Mohammad Hossain, son of Nur Mohammad at Char Jabbar union in Subarnachar upazila of Noakhali district. He was assistant enforcement coordinator (ANC) of Mithamoin zonal office in Kishoreganj Palli Bidyut Samity. Kalindra Nath Goldar, officer-in-charge (OC) of Mithamoin police station, said the REB officer went to a Haor near Itna-Mithamoin-Astagram road to catch fish with net around 6 pm Monday. A heavy current took him away when he threw the net  in the Haor as  the net was tied with his hand, the OC said. Read: Missing tourist’s body fished out of Kishoreganj haor On information, divers of fire service and civil defense rushed to the spot and carried out the salvation work but failed to find him initially. The divers finally were able to find body of the missing officer some 200 meters away from the road Tuesday, the OC added.

Two poultry farmers went missing after their small boat capsized in Chapati haor (back swamp) during a storm in the district's Derai upazila on Wednesday night, police said. The missing farmers have been identified as Mujibur Rahman, 45, and Anhar Mia, 23, of the upazila. Read: Missing tourist’s body fished out of Kishoreganj haor Locals said that three farmers went to Chapati haor on a small engine-driven boat to collect food for ducks on Wednesday afternoon and it capsized during a storm around 9.30pm. Though locals rescued one of the farmers, Parvez Miah, and rushed him to a nearby hospital in the Kolyarkapan market area, the two others couldn't be traced. Akram Ali, officer-in-charge of Derai police station, said a team of fire service divers carried out a search and rescue operation till 12 noon on Thursday, but couldn’t find the missing duo.

The paddy farmers of haor upazilas Austagram, Itna, Mithamoin, and Nikli of Kishoreganj district are not getting a fair price of paddy in Chamraghat, Bhairab, and Ashuganj wholesale markets in this Boro paddy harvesting season. As a result, paddy farmers have been counting Tk 150-250 loss per maund of paddy which will push them into financial trouble.   Haor farmers have already faced two flash floods triggered by incessant downpours and onrush of water from upstream areas in India’s eastern zone. Farmers in the haor areas continue to harvest half-ripe paddy fearing more flash floods instructed by the administration, local lawmakers, and the Department of Agricultural Extension to cut further loss.   As farmers are harvesting half-ripe paddy, they are unable to utilize it fully. This is a huge loss for them. Moreover, the Boro labour crisis has increased the losses as farmers are counting on extra money to get the necessary number of labourers to harvest Boro crops. This time, the unfair price of paddy has turned the haor farmers unhappy. They are now lamenting and passing days thinking about how they will repay their loans from local lenders. READ: 90% of haor paddy harvested: Deputy Minister Boro farmers of haor areas have expressed their resentment about the unfair paddy price. Their disappointment comes when farmers go to the wholesale market to sell BRRI dhan 28 (a Boro paddy variety which ripens early). Visiting the Chamraghat rice market, the UNB correspondent found farmers from haor areas bringing paddy here by river routes. Rice mill owners buy paddy directly from farmers at this spot.    Farmers said they have been counting huge losses as they are not getting a fair price this year. Mill owners are buying maximum paddy at a low price produced in the haor areas. The production cost per maund of coarse paddy, including the labour cost, is near Tk 900 while its selling price is only Tk 650 to Tk 750, while plain paddy is being sold at Tk 750 to Tk 850 against the production cost near Tk 1000. Karim Mia, a farmer of Dhanpur of Itna upazila, said he has expended more than Tk 1,000 to grow one maund paddy. But he is not getting a fair price in the local market which has forced him to sell paddies at lower prices counting huge losses. Farmer Amin Mia, who has come to sell paddy in Bhairab Bazar wholesale market from Austagram upazila, said most of the farmers in Austagram cultivated Boro croplands by taking lease from the land owners. Many of them have also borrowed money from local creditors. As farmers are not getting a fair price for paddy this year, it will be a tough task for them to maintain their livelihood after paying debts.    He also urged the government to procure paddy at a fair price directly from the farmers. Ujjal Saha, agriculture officer of Itna upazila said, “Most of the farmers of the haor areas are ultra-poor. They are bound to sell paddy in early Baishakh to pay the borrowed money. Money-lenders put huge pressure on them in Baishakh. If they sell paddies a few days later, they will get a good price.”

Farmers have harvested 90 percent of Boro paddy in haor areas, said AKM Enamul Haque Shamim, deputy minister for water resources. “The remaining ten percent paddy in haor areas will be harvested soon,” he told reporters, after inspecting the progress of work on the protection project of Padma’s Naria-Jajira of Shariatpur district on Friday. Due to the timely steps of the government, the farmers of haor areas have avoided a huge loss, he said. Read: Khalid urges passengers to cross river through Paturia instead of Shimulia  There are 2,22,805 hectares of haor across the country. Of these, only 5,765 hectares of haor crops have been damaged. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is inquiring about the situation in the haors regularly.  The Ministry of Water Resources, Water Development Board, District Administration and Agriculture Department are working together as per PM’s directions. For the sake of haor people, holidays of the officials and employees of the Water Development Board have been canceled. The ministry is working on adopting a plan to solve the problem of haor permanently. The deputy minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced the implementation of Delta Plan-2100 to build a developed Bangladesh in the future. The Ministry of Water Resources will implement 80 per cent of the work of this master plan. If this master plan is implemented, there will be no problem of river erosion and waterlogging in the whole country. Read: Brace for showers in next 24 hours! The Ministry of Water Resources and the Water Development Board are working tirelessly to implement this master plan, he said.    

Water started overflowing Chhayar Haor in Shalla upazila of Sunamganj district as an embankment collapsed early Sunday, making it more difficult for farmers in Haor areas to harvest paddy. Local people blamed negligence on the part of the authorities concerned of local Water Development Board for the collapse of the levee. According to the local office of Department of Agriculture Extension, this year, 4,637 hectares of land in Chhayar Haor was brought under boro cultivation and already 95% paddy of the haor area have been harvested. Also read: Sunamganj farmers fear crops loss as floodwater enters haors But the local farmers claimed that they failed to harvest 15% crops of the haor. Takbir Hossain, a farmer of Sultanpur village in the upazila, said that he failed to harvest 30% crops of his land due to lack of paddy workers. Shalla Upazila Nirbahi Officer, Abu Taleb, said a portion of Chhayar Haor dam collapsed early hours of Sunday during nor’wester, flooding many areas. However, the main closure of the embankment remained unhurt. Also read: 41% paddy harvested in haor region until April 20: Ministry Sunamganj haor region was hit by the first phase of flash floods due to onrush of hill water and upstream water running down hills following torrential rain in Meghalaya and Cherrapunji of India recently. A vast tract of boro cropland was inundated, forcing farmers to harvest their crops early to minimise losses.

Farmers in the Tahirpur haor area of Sunamganj fear they may be deprived of their Boro harvest this year, with the possibility of further flash floods in the days ahead on the back of heavy rainfall in the northern and eastern part of India. Boro paddy of Tahirpur upazila has just started ripening. Normally, farmers of the haor areas would go for harvest within 7-10 days. But another flash flood between now and then could damage the crop entirely.  According to the forecast of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, water level at some points of Surma, Kushiara, and Jadukata rivers may cross the danger level due to incessant downpours in the hilly areas of India including Assam and Meghalaya from April 10 to 17.      In the last week, around 7000 hectares of Boro lands of Tanguar haor, Eraliakona, and Gunnakuri haor under Tahirpur upazila became inundated due to an onrush of water downstream breaking past the protection embankment. Local farmers of these areas are now guarding the remaining embankments in phases as these are very weak and ill-constructed. Also read: Thakurgaon farmers fear crops loss after hailstorm The Water Development Board has repaired the 53-kilometre long submersible crop protection embankment and 10 closures through 68 Project Implementation Committees (PICs). The cost to implement the project was Tk 12 crore 83 lakh. However, the embankment and the closures are not perfectly repaired and repair work remains incomplete. The local administration along with the farmers are working to repair the cracks on the embankment.    

BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Tuesday blamed the government's mismanagement and incompetence for the submersion of crops before harvest in unseasonal early flash floods caused by onrush of waters from upstream. “Vast haor areas of Sunamganj, Kishoreganj and Netrokona in the country went underwater due to the onrush of upstream water. Boro crops are being damaged the most by the early flash flood,” he said. Rizvi made the remarks while speaking at a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office. “Hundreds of crores of taka were allocated for the construction of dams in the haor region. The ruling party leaders and relatives of the government high-ups have been given the responsibility for the construction of the dams. As they did not build dams in time, the people in the haor region are now being subjected to huge losses,” he said. The BNP leader also said people in the haor areas are going through serious ordeals due to the flash flood as their houses too have become submerged. Stating that different countries are facing a food crisis due to the ongoing Ukraine War and other global problems, Rizvi said this crisis may intensify in Bangladesh as a huge swathe of land with crops has been inundated by the flash flood. READ: Public suffering reaches extreme stage: BNP “Huge areas with crops are being submerged by untimely floods due to the incompetence and mismanagement of the government. Ordinary people's houses and crops are being damaged,” he observed. He said the current government is least bothered about public suffering as it is indulging in anti-mass activities. Rizvi called upon BNP leaders and activists to stand beside the affected people in the haor area with the necessary support to ease their sufferings.