Rokshana Pinky, Rangamati

South Asia's longest Kaptai lake located in the Rangamati hill district has been adversely affected by the ongoing intense heatwave across the country. Due to lack of heavy rainfall for a long time, the water of Kaptai lake is drying up fast. Due to this, the suffering of the people who depend on the lake is increasing day by day.

All businesses dependent on this lake, including fish production, hydropower production, transportation of all types of raw materials, tourism, trees, bamboo are affected.

Besides, the water communication from one upazila to another has been disrupted.

Local boat driver. Md. Idris, Md. Rahman Ali, Subal Das said, when the water decreases, our sorrow increases. Especially in several parts of the Kaptai lake, boats get stuck due to char rising. This has reduced our income. Unless there is heavy rain ahead, if the water in the lake does not rise, the misery will increase. The family is suffering.

Fazlul Haque, General Secretary of Tree Traders Association, said that our business has stopped due to decrease in water. The employment of thousands of people involved in various activities has stopped.

Apart from this, as the water consumption in Kaptai lake is decreasing, on the one hand, the consumption of the public suffering, on the other hand, the production of Kaptai hydroelectric power station, which depends on Kaptai lake, has reached the lowest level.

According to the sources of Kaptai Water Power Plant, currently 4 units out of 5 units of the power plant have been shut down due to lack of water. Only one unit is producing only 25 to 30 MW of electricity per day.

Besides, according to the rule curve, the water level in Kaptai lake is 76.38 MSL (mean sea level) in the last 24 hours. But at this time of the year, the water in the lake is supposed to be 84.20 feet MSL. That is 7.82 feet MSL water is less in Kaptai lake.

ATM Abduzzaher, Manager of Kaptai Water Power Plant, said that due to the abnormal decrease in water, the production of electricity has decreased drastically. Out of the five units, only one unit is operational. Dredging of Kaptai Lake has become very necessary. However, everything will be normal if there is torrential rain in the coming monsoon season.