Atiqur Rahman Atiq, Gaibandha

The land owners have not been able to cultivate three khands for a long time because the excess soil from the river excavation is kept in the privately owned land next to the river.

As a result, the farmers here are suffering because they are unable to cultivate because of excess soil in the land.

Last year in 2021, the 3.8 kilometer Naleya river from the north side of Bakshiganj Hat in Sadullapur Upazila of Gaibandhar to Lalmati Ghat was excavated under the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). During the excavation of the river, soil is also placed on the adjacent lands along with the river bank.

It was informed that the soil will be removed in a short time if verbally prohibited. But even after almost two years of river excavation, the excess soil on the land has not been removed yet. In this, about two hundred farmers along the river are not able to cultivate any kind of crops in their land due to excess soil.

Taju Mia, Saju Sarkar, Jelal Pramanik, Anwar Hossain, Sohel Rana, Mizanur Rahman, Rustam Ali of Bara Chhatragacha village of Dhaperhat Union of Upazila on both sides of Naleya river complained that extra soil was placed on their privately owned land during river excavation. Due to excess soil in the land, they are not able to cultivate any crops in their land from last three Khands. As a result, they are affected.

In this regard, the upazila local government applied to various government departments, including the engineering department, for the transfer of excess soil for river excavation, but no solution has been found so far. They demand to remove excess soil from the land quickly.

In this regard, Local Government Engineering Directorate (LGED) Sadullapur Upazila Engineer Md. Menaz said that in 2021, under the control of the Local Government Engineering Department, the 2nd section of the Naleya River was dug under the "Sara Deshi Pond Canal Development" project. As the excess soil on the land on both sides of the river was washed into the canal by rain and flood and the canal was filled with soil again after reducing the depth of the canal, on May 3, 2022, the private landowners on both sides of the river were invited to remove the excess soil on the land owned by private initiative. But on the same day, the invitation was suspended on the orders of higher authorities.