Waterlogging caused by continuous rain has put Aman rice cultivation in doubt on about 500 bighas of Surikhali beel in Tala upazila of Satkhira. The beel has been waterlogged for almost a month because local influential people have kept its drainage blocked. Poor farmers and landowners are in trouble because they cannot till their land in time.

According to local sources, Surikhali beel covers a large part of Muragachha mouza in Khesra union of Tala. The beel holds 500 bighas of farmland belonging to about 200 farmers, most of it used for Aman and Boro rice. The beel stretches west from Muragachha village in Khesra union to Dormuragachha, and from Muragachha in the south to the Shalikha river in the north. At present, however, there is no way for water to drain out of it.

The affected farmers said a small part of Surikhali beel is used for fish enclosures (gher), while most of the land is under rice. The recent heavy rain has left the beel completely under water. Behind this, they said, is the illegal sale of khas land that had been allotted by the government; after buying it, influential people built an embankment on the land and shut off drainage completely.

Local farmer Nur Mohammad Sardar told Jago News that in 1988-89 the government allotted 66 decimals of land, plot 3051 of the beel, to Gosai Adhikari, a landless man from Muragachha village. Ten years ago Gosai Adhikari's son Kartik Adhikari sold it, in breach of the rules on government allotments, to Syed Sekandar, son of the late Syed Nurul Islam of Muragachha. Syed Sekandar then built an embankment on the land he bought, blocking water from draining out of the beel.

When the beel's landowners complained to the Tala upazila nirbahi officer, he instructed the Khesra union parishad chairman to lay pipes to drain the water. But when the pipes were being laid, Syed Sekandar and his associates obstructed the work. With the backing of some influential local fish enclosure owners, Syed Sekandar has become reckless, the farmers say.

Farmer Suman Sardar told Jago News that the waterlogging, which came just before Aman planting, has raised doubts over Aman cultivation in the beel. Despite appeals in many places, nobody concerned is taking effective action, he said.

Khesra union parishad chairman Kamrul Islam Laltu told Jago News that the old canal of about one kilometre, which runs into the Shalikha river, needs to be re-excavated to drain Surikhali beel. That would end the waterlogging in the beel and the whole area. The matter has been reported to the Tala upazila nirbahi officer, he said.

Tala upazila agriculture officer Shubhranshu Shekhar told Jago News that the beel grows two crops a year. Cultivation is currently being hit by the waterlogging, and farmers will suffer losses if drainage is not arranged quickly. A recommendation has been made to the upazila nirbahi officer on the matter, he said.

Reported by Ahsanur Rahman Rajib.

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