Barisal Correspondent :
Ruling party activists allegedly created dam for pisciculture at midway of irrigation project endangering local environment and hampering agricultural activities of more than fifty thousand people in Satla-Bagda area of Barisal district.
After visiting the area and talking with the local people and related officials it was learnt that by initiatives of Abdur Rob Serniabad, the then local AL leader and minister for irrigation, flood control and electricity, implementation of Satla-Bagda Project from Sandhya River of Wajirpur to Poisarhut River of Agoiljhara started in 1973.
The total project ended in 1980 and considered as one of the biggest flood control cum irrigation cum road connectivity project in wetland areas of the country.
After completion of the project barren vast lands of the area became fertile agricultural farm land and created easy regional connectivity by controlling flood.
However recently a group of influential ruling AL activists Sarwar Biswas, Lokman Hossain, Shamim Khan, Manik Howladar and 40 others led by AL-backed Agoiljhara upazila chairman Golam Murtaza Khan recently started a ‘food for works’ programme to pisciculture in that project area.
They creating dam at midway of polder-3 at minority community populated East Kathiara village under Agoiljhara upazila closed open flow of the wetland for pisciculture.
Kalipada Haldar, 80, one of the farmers in the area told thousands of people at Purba Kathira, Rautpara, Ashokbon, Taltalar Math, Vadropara villages depended for their livelihood by cultivating Boro-paddy with the irrigation facilities of this project. Fish farming by creating dam at midway of the project will force them to live under hunger.
Cultivating Boro-paddy depended on irrigation and season will start from Agrahayan of Bangla calendar (November-December). But this year we see no hope till the dam created for pisciculture would be removed, Rabin Mandal, 60, a Boro-farmer told.
Thousands of people like us depended on this wetlands under Satla-Bagda project for earning livelihood. But creating dam for fish farming at the midway obstacles the open water flows and used fish-feds rotting the water damaging environment and aqua-life in the area forcing us to starve, told Mayuri Roy, 40, a female farmer of the area.
