The water level in some rivers like Teesta, Jamuna, Karatoya, Baral and Hurasagar has increased due to heavy rains in the upstream of India. As a result, the fields of various crops, including Boro paddy, pepper, onion-garlic, almond, and sweet pumpkin, have been submerged. Farmers in the char areas have suffered huge losses as these emerging crops have gone underwater. Vast char islanders are facing huge losses and major crops prices may become dearer. The government in the yesteryears failed to install a sustainable policy due to the failure to reach the most-hyped water-sharing agreement with the upstream country India.
Raw and semi-ripe paddy of low lands in the char areas of Sirajganj Sadar, Kazipur, Shahjadpur and Chowhali upazilas have been submerged due to sudden rise of Jamuna water. Many farmers are cutting raw paddy and feeding it to cows. Many are trying to get some rice by threshing half-ripe paddy again.
Earlier, the Teesta water started rising from noon on March 25 after India opened the Gajoldoba Barrage gates. Thousands of acres of crops, including pepper, onion, potato, sweet pumpkin, wheat, tobacco and maize, have been submerged due to untimely rise of water since Sunday morning. India has provided 3,500 cusecs of water throughout the dry season. Only 1,100 cusecs have been used for irrigation. But in the last 7 days, India has opened the Gajoldoba Barrage gates and given 5,200 cusecs of water. Thousands of acres of croplands of farmers have been submerged due to the opening of two gates of Teesta due to excess water.
The affected people will need a long time to recover and rebuild in the aftermath. They need immediate assistance to shore up their lives. The people in the affected areas will need broader and more significant assistance from the government agencies. What is necessary is to rejuvenate the connections of the Teesta River with all its tributaries, distributaries and waterbodies of its basin so that wider storage capacity is restored.
