A group of greedy encroachers have dug up numerous mini ponds and erected different illegal structures on the riverbed as well as banks of once-mighty Kodla River, allegedly due to the negligence of concerned authorities.
Locals said the river, flowing through bordering Moheshpur upazila under Jhenidah, once played a significant role for generations in carrying goods and passengers in the region.
“But during last couple of years, the river has been strangulated to death by a group of encroachers who erected numerous illegal structures on its banks and riverbed during the winter when the river dries up. Dividing the riverbed into pieces, they have dug up hundreds of mini ponds on it,” they alleged.
“Some of the occupiers have leased out their encroached portion of the river for cultivating fish there,” said the locals, adding that several efforts of freeing the river from encroachment went in vein despite repeated announcements by the concerned authorities.
People living beside the river alleged that as the river flow was barred due to numerous short embanks of those mini-ponds and walls of illegal structures, the water from 10 irrigation canals and beels of the locality cannot discharge water into the 25 km-long river properly, creating water logging in the farmlands throughout the monsoon.
“The farmers in the area are not being able to cultivate Aus, Aman, Boro and other paddies and seasonal crops on their lands. It has been depriving them of several crore taka every year,” they said.
Some senior citizens of Moheshpur upazila told the Bangladesh Post: “The local administration virtually did not take any steps to protect the river from grabbers in past two or three decades which has been encouraging them.”
Mentionable, originating from India, the river has flown into Bangladesh through Moheshpur.
Banshbaria villager Shahjahan Ali said the Bangladesh portion of the river at present is almost dried up for want of flow due to encroachments while huge water is available in India part.
According to the villagers, the occupiers have been trying to convince the people of the both sides of the river that the fish farming has been meeting up local fish demands as well as providing employment to many local youths.
Banshbaria union parishad (UP) chairman Abdul Malek Mandal said the encroachers occupied the river using fake documents. Water from Barobeel, Kewror Beel, Dhaldhale Beel, Tithir Beel and some other beels used to be discharged through the Kodla since long, but during recent years it is being hampered.
“The width of the river was 140 to 150 feet, which at present has narrowed down to 20 to 30 feet. At some spots, the width is no more than 12-13 feet,” the UP chairman said, adding that locals cannot open their lips fearing attack and harassment by the influential grabbers in the locality.
Mandal said he had placed written complaints to Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and some other authorities against the river grabbers, and requesting to re-excavate the river and ensure its natural flow, but in vain.
Banshbaria union assistant land officer Hasibul Islam said some people showing some documents have been claiming portions of the riverbed as their own. “We are not in a position to identify the area until the SA record is completed,” he replied to a query.
BWDB’s Jhenidah executive engineer Sarwar Jahan Sujan also echoed the allegation that the grabbers occupied the riverbed using fake documents. He said, “The existence of Kodla River is proved in the SA records with the government.”
He further said the illegal structures must be demolished and the river should be re-excavated under the river, canal, water body digging project as early as possible.
Jhenidah deputy commissioner Saroj Kumar Nath told the Bangladesh Post: “If the illegal occupation is removed, the river might resume normal water supply within a short time.”