Farmers worry as water enters Tanguar Hoar due to dam collapse

Farmers in haor areas of Sunamganj's Tahirpur upazila are worried, fearing the loss of Boro paddy as huge water started entering the Tanguar Hoar due to the collapse of the Nazarkhali embankment.

Local farmers said water has started entering the hoar since Saturday morning through the Nazarkhali embankment that was breached due to heavy rainfall on Friday night coupled with upstream water from Meghalaya hills.

Due to the flash flood breaching the dam, there is a fear of crops being damaged in Goinakari Haor, Arillar Haor, Sannyasi Haor, Poliyar Beel Haor of North Sreepur union, they added. 

But Water Development Board (WDB) officials said as the embankment was not meant for protecting the boro crop in haor areas of the district, there is no need to fear paddy damage.

North Sreepur union no 9 ward member Sajinur Mia said farmers are worried that crops will be washed away if the water flow continues onto the haor.

Sunamganj Department of Agriculture Extension (DoE) sources said this year, paddy has been cultivated on 120 hectares of land in Tanguar haor. Of those, 25 hectares of land are in Tahirpur upazila.

Md Shamsuddoha, an executive engineer at WDB Sunamganj office, said following the declaration of the Tanguar Haor as the "Ramsar Site", no embankment was built there to save crops. Since the hoar is preserved as "fish sanctuaries", paddy has not been cultivated there.   

But farmers have cultivated paddy in Tanguar Haor too, Tahirpur UNO Raihan Kabir said, adding that some farmers planted crops on 25 hectares of Haor land in Tahirpur.

"Being informed about the dam collapse, I visited the affected area. The pressure of water in the river will recede with the release of water through the damaged embankment.  It will save other embankments in the river," he added.  

The UNO also advised farmers not to worry about losing their crops. 

"Following a request from locals, the embankment was built on a broken portion of the hoar with a special allocation," the WDB executive engineer said. 

The Water Development Board allocates Tk9 lakh for the construction of the Nazakhali embankment.  The construction work began on 15 December last year and it was expected to finish by 28 February this year

However, there were allegations against PWD of irregularities and negligence since the beginning of the Nazarkhali embankment construction.

Bijon Sen, general secretary of the Haor conservation movement (Haor Bachcho Andolon), said the dam was built at the expense of the government, whether for crop protection or not. Why will it break in a little rainfall?

"We warned about the negligence in the construction of the dam but no one paid heed to us. Now the dam is damaged as soon as it starts raining," Bijon Sen said.

As early floods that hit the region at end of March 2017 caused serious damage to boro crops, farmers are worried about the probable loss of crops.

PWD office sources said that under Project Implementation Committees (PICs), in this fiscal year, a total of 532.39-kilometre embankments have been built in the haor areas, by spending Tk724 crore.