An embankment in the Eranbil haor of Madhyanagar upazila in Sunamganj has given way, submerging crops on some boro land. Local farmers say the embankment protects several hundred acres of boro crops belonging to farmers from 6-7 villages.

The embankment on the Eranbil canal broke on the morning of 28 April near Hamidpur village in Banshikunda Dakshin union, under pressure from the Monai river, a branch of the Sureshwari.

Md Howlader, executive engineer of the Sunamganj Water Development Board, said he had learnt that the embankment of a jalmahal (leased water body) in Madhyanagar had broken and water was entering. It is not a boro crop-protection embankment, he said, though there may be some paddy on the banks of the jalmahal.

Madhyanagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sanjay Ghosh also said it was not a boro crop-protection embankment. "It is a rural earthen road built over the canal of a beel. It broke under the pressure of hill water. The area where water is entering is a jalmahal. Paddy was grown on 114 hectares here, and half of it has already been harvested. Perhaps 5-10 hectares of paddy may go under water. Local people are trying to repair the embankment," he said.

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