Bagerhat Correspondent :
The tributary of Bhairab River, which is popularly known as ‘Alaipur Bharani’ has been silted up.
As a result, boats cannot play in the river, causing much inconvenience to the people of the locality in general and the businessmen of Bagerhat in particular.
The river, about 40 kilometers in length from the Bhairab River near Rupsa ghat and falls into Chitra River also known as Bhairab in Bagerhat district crisscrossing some important Upazila headquarters and business centers like Alaipu bazar, Rupsa Upazila, Mansha bazar, Bahirdia, Fakirhat Upazila headquarters, Sonakhali bazar, Baraipara bazar, Jatrapur bazar and Bagerhat district headquarters.
It provides a link between the rivers Bhairab and Madhumati. It is the part of the Bhairab River, the biggest river of Southern Bengal and it originated from the river Padma.
In many places of the river, many religious functions are held by the Hindu community for attaining deity and village fairs on the holy occasions.
It may be mentioned here that the river becomes almost dry in the dry season. But at present Fakirhat and Sonakhali points of the canal were completely silted up. Consequently, it has lost its commercial importance and potentiality. A boat normally takes maximum 10 hours to reach from Bagerhat to Khulna and vice versa during the rainy season.
But due to the silting up of the canal a boat normally takes 24 hours or more to reach from one end to the other through the new route. Moreover, this new river route is not a safer one. This has virtually made the plying of boats between Khulna and Bagerhat in this dry season impossible. So, at present the businessmen are to depend on road transport to carry the merchandise goods from Khulna to Bagerhat and vice versa.
This enhanced cost of transportations of merchandise affects the price spiral of different essentials commodities abnormally. The businessmen are facing great hardship in transporting their goods to and from Khulna and Bagerhat.
The silting up of the river affects the cultivation of IRRI and Boro crops on the vast tracts of agricultural lands on the both sides of the river. Power pumps are now inactive to irrigate water to the nearby IRRI blocks as water level of the river is fast going down.
The people who are living on the banks of the river cannot produce sufficient crops even after applying manure and labour because of low fertility of the lands. Local people are now urging the Govt. earnestly to re-excavate this important canal immediately in order to make it navigable.
It may be mentioned here that in the year 1957 the canal was re-excavated to make it navigable. But during the last 62 years from 1957 to 2019 no step was taken so far from any quarters to re-excavate this important canal.
The tributary of Bhairab River, which is popularly known as ‘Alaipur Bharani’ has been silted up.
As a result, boats cannot play in the river, causing much inconvenience to the people of the locality in general and the businessmen of Bagerhat in particular.
The river, about 40 kilometers in length from the Bhairab River near Rupsa ghat and falls into Chitra River also known as Bhairab in Bagerhat district crisscrossing some important Upazila headquarters and business centers like Alaipu bazar, Rupsa Upazila, Mansha bazar, Bahirdia, Fakirhat Upazila headquarters, Sonakhali bazar, Baraipara bazar, Jatrapur bazar and Bagerhat district headquarters.
It provides a link between the rivers Bhairab and Madhumati. It is the part of the Bhairab River, the biggest river of Southern Bengal and it originated from the river Padma.
In many places of the river, many religious functions are held by the Hindu community for attaining deity and village fairs on the holy occasions.
It may be mentioned here that the river becomes almost dry in the dry season. But at present Fakirhat and Sonakhali points of the canal were completely silted up. Consequently, it has lost its commercial importance and potentiality. A boat normally takes maximum 10 hours to reach from Bagerhat to Khulna and vice versa during the rainy season.
But due to the silting up of the canal a boat normally takes 24 hours or more to reach from one end to the other through the new route. Moreover, this new river route is not a safer one. This has virtually made the plying of boats between Khulna and Bagerhat in this dry season impossible. So, at present the businessmen are to depend on road transport to carry the merchandise goods from Khulna to Bagerhat and vice versa.
This enhanced cost of transportations of merchandise affects the price spiral of different essentials commodities abnormally. The businessmen are facing great hardship in transporting their goods to and from Khulna and Bagerhat.
The silting up of the river affects the cultivation of IRRI and Boro crops on the vast tracts of agricultural lands on the both sides of the river. Power pumps are now inactive to irrigate water to the nearby IRRI blocks as water level of the river is fast going down.
The people who are living on the banks of the river cannot produce sufficient crops even after applying manure and labour because of low fertility of the lands. Local people are now urging the Govt. earnestly to re-excavate this important canal immediately in order to make it navigable.
It may be mentioned here that in the year 1957 the canal was re-excavated to make it navigable. But during the last 62 years from 1957 to 2019 no step was taken so far from any quarters to re-excavate this important canal.
