Md. Abdul Qayyum, Moulvibazar

In Moulvibazar's second largest Kawadighi Haor, the paddy was ripe in the last Boro season and the farmers had started harvesting it, when disaster struck. The dreams of hundreds of farmers were submerged in heavy rain and upstream water. The paddy rotted and was ruined under the water.

This time too, even in the full season of Aman planting, the water in Kawadighi Haor increased abnormally due to continuous rain and hilly downpours coming down from upstream, causing waterlogging. In such a situation, thousands of hectares of Aman land in Fatehpur, Uttarbhag, Munshibazar, Panchgaon, Rajnagar and Mansurnagar unions of Rajnagar upazila, including Ekatuna Union and Akhailkura Union of Moulvibazar Sadar upazila, have been submerged under water. In addition, numerous fish farms in the haor were affected. Hundreds of marginal farmers in the two upazilas are in extreme distress after facing such terrible losses during the Boro and Aman seasons.

In 1982, a crop protection dam project called the Manu Irrigation Project was implemented on the banks of the Manu River to cultivate and protect the crops of marginal farmers. On the one hand, it will be possible to produce rice using the water of the Manu River during the Boro season, and on the other hand, the vast rice reserves in the project area will be protected from floods by irrigating them. However, this important crop protection project has recently become a tool of destruction for farmers after falling into the hands of syndicates. Farmers complain that the Kashimpur Pump House authorities are not providing irrigation water according to the rules to drain the water of the haor quickly. There are also rumors that they are giving benefits to fish farms and water palace leaseholders.

There are allegations that the Water Development Board is keeping irrigation running through 6 out of 8 pumps of the pump house to resolve waterlogging in Kawadighi Haor through Kashimpur Pump House, but the pumps are being shut down for half of the 24 hours. As a result, there is no sign of water receding in the haor to prevent waterlogging. In addition, the pumps of Kashimpur Pump House itself, which are being used for irrigation, are clogged with mud. Due to which water drainage is being blocked. However, the Water Development Board is saying different information.

Paubo sources say that the irrigation pumps of Kashimpur Pump House of Manu Irrigation Project require at least 3 megawatts of electricity every day to run. In contrast to this 3 megawatts of electricity demand, the authorities are forced to shut down the pumps due to the shortage of electricity by supplying up to 1.5 megawatts. During the recent flood, one of the 8 pumps was shut down but it has not been repaired. As a result, the authorities are keeping irrigation going with 6 pumps. Currently, the water level in the haor is 8.57 meters. Out of this, more water is entering the haor from the river than is being irrigated.

The Water Development Board (WDB) claims that the pumps have to be shut down only due to power shortage. Because each pump has a power capacity of 350 kilowatts. If this amount of power is not received, there is a risk of damage to the motors of the pumps. The authorities claim that the 6 pumps that are currently in operation, if these 6 pumps run continuously for 24 hours, the water will decrease by 8 to 10 millimeters every day. However, the pumps in the haor are occasionally shut down due to specific technical reasons. Stating that this pump house is not sufficient for the current water level in the haor, Paubo says that it is a matter of study to determine how many pumps will be required for irrigation in the haor. This matter has been informed to the higher authorities. Now the amount of water in the haor is very high. It is not possible to reduce the water with these pumps during the monsoon season. To reduce the water, higher-capacity pumps will have to be installed.

Jahangir Mia, a resident of Islampur village, said, "How will they run the pump if they don't have electricity? Because even if they pump a week's worth of rain water, it is not possible to reduce the water level in this huge haor."

Farmer Momtaz Ullah of Kashimpur village said, "I could not plant Aman because the water did not recede. Earlier, 5 quintals of rice were submerged in the flood."

Muhammad Faizul Islam, Executive Engineer (Mechanical) of the Water Development Board, Moulvibazar, said that this pump house is not enough for the water level in the haor. Now it is a matter of surveying how many pumps will be needed for irrigation.

According to the District Agricultural Extension Department, last year, about 500 hectares of Aman were cultivated in Kawadighi Haor, with a market value of about 7 crore 8 lakh taka. This year, although there is a possibility of Aman cultivation in approximately 600-700 hectares of land in Kawadighi Haor, cultivation is uncertain as the lands are submerged under water. However, contrary to these statistics of the Department of Agricultural Extension, it is known that in reality thousands of hectares of land have been submerged under water.

Jalal Uddin, Deputy Director of the Moulvibazar Department of Agricultural Extension, said that due to high rainfall this year and the reduced capacity of the Kashimpur irrigation pump, there have been problems in water drainage, resulting in less Aman cultivation.

Meanwhile, as part of the ongoing movement demanding removal of waterlogging in the haor, a delegation of the Haor Protection Movement visited the Kashimpur Pump House on the afternoon of August 11 to meet with the Water Development Board authorities to resolve the issue. There, they met with the Sub-Divisional Engineer (Mechanical) of the Water Development Board Moulvibazar, Md. Saiful Islam. It was decided that from now on, the pump would run 24 hours a day and the water level would be reduced by 2 feet from the current level as much as possible.

The WDB representative confirmed that the pump would run 24 hours a day depending on the availability of electricity in light of that 2 feet. It was also decided that when the river water recedes, the regulators of the pump house would be opened. In this way, several times the amount of water that comes out of the pump house would be drained very quickly. In order to monitor the entire issue of this decision, along with the Water Development Board's own manpower, two representatives of the Haor Protection Movement would stay at the pump house for 24 hours and the authorities would arrange for their accommodation and food. It was also decided in that meeting that

Md. Saiful Islam, Sub-Divisional Engineer (Mechanical) of Water Development Board Moulvibazar, said, "We need 3 megawatts of electricity at Kashimpur Pump House, but due to the fuel crisis, it is seen that we could not provide 3 megawatts of electricity. Accordingly, with the approval of the Executive Engineer of the Power Development Board and the District Commissioner, a decision was made to supply 2.5 megawatts of electricity. After that decision, 2.5 megawatts of electricity is being supplied from August 8 and 6 pumps are running regularly 24 hours a day."