Boro cultivation on 250 bigha of land in Saghata upazila, Gaibandha, is being hampered this season by the negligence and indifference of the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA). The situation has arisen at Ramnagar village in Kachua union because the tube-well irrigation pumps lack a power connection and broken equipment has not been repaired.

Operators and managers of BMDA deep tube-wells and of LLP pumps installed on the river allege that since Shafiqul Islam took charge as executive engineer of BMDA's Gaibandha region, he has provided no irrigation service without money changing hands. Transplanting of boro this season is almost finished across all 10 unions of the upazila, but for lack of an irrigation connection farmers have not yet been able to start planting any land under the BMDA's two tube-wells in Ramnagar mouza. As a result boro cultivation on 250 bigha is being hampered. In the last aman season too, rice and other crops on 250 bigha were ruined for lack of irrigation, costing farmers in the area Tk 20 lakh to Tk 25 lakh.

Anchhar Ali, a farmer of Ramnagar village in Saghata, said: "I am a Barind LLP operator myself. For the past three months I have been contacting the Barind office to have the transformer put up on the electricity pole. But Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, executive engineer of the BMDA in Gaibandha, has paid no heed. Because this Barind irrigation pump is shut, I have lost lakhs of taka. And more than 200 farmers under two irrigation pumps around me have been affected."

Anisur Rahman, a farmer of Ramnagar village, said that without an irrigation connection he could not water his land in the aman season, so his 10 bigha of aman rice was ruined. Although he contacted them repeatedly, the Barind authority did not arrange water for his field.

Sahadat Hossain, manager of the Ramnagar Barind irrigation pump, said: "I prepared a boro seedbed for my 10 bigha. Just because I can't water it, the seedbed is drying up and dying. Because my irrigation connection was not given, crops on about 100 bigha in my scheme suffered Tk 15 lakh of damage last aman season. This time too there are fears that boro cultivation on 250 bigha will be hampered for lack of irrigation."

Mokhlesur Rahman, the upazila assistant engineer, said: "I went to the site. There are some problems there; they will be solved and a power connection arranged quickly."

Shafiqul Islam, executive engineer of the Gaibandha region, denied any financial dealings, saying: "I have nothing to do with the farmers under irrigation. Mokhlesur Rahman, the officer responsible for Saghata upazila, is in charge of that area. The transformers are mainly taken down at the end of the season because of theft. The irrigation pumps will be made operational quickly."

Krishibid Md Sadequzzaman, Saghata upazila agriculture officer, said: "After the matter came to our attention we quickly inspected and took steps to start the irrigation equipment. Irrigation will begin very soon."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.