Forest department recovers bodies of 39 deer
Fisheries washed away incurring loss of Tk 245 crore
PM to visit cyclone-affected areas Thursday
Severe cyclone Remal has left a trail of destruction in Bangladesh, by damaging crops on several thousand acres of land, washing away fishing enclosures and killing animals of the Sundarbans.
The cyclonic storm pounded on the coastal belts of the Bangladesh and parts of West Bengal of India on Sunday, leaving at least 10 people killed and damaging over 1.5 lakh houses in the country.
Locals of 19-cyclone hit districts say that the storm damaged their crops, fishing enclosure and houses.
Amid the losses of lives and property, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday directed the authorities concerned to assess the loss by next Sunday.
She is also scheduled to visit the cyclone-affected areas on Thursday.
The premier also asked the authorities concerned for necessary repairs in coastal areas, which were directly affected by the cyclonic storm.
The premier also instructed authorities concerned to look out for any drinking water crisis in the cyclone affected areas.
According to the Jashore Department of Agricultural Extension, cyclone Remal has damaged crops on 3,074 hectares of land.
Of these, vegetables on 1,429 hectares of land, bananas on 67 hectares, mangoes on 114 hectares, sesame on 331 hectares, papaya on 26 hectares, moong dal on 36 hectares, chilli on 60 hectares, jute on 972 hectares, litchi on 36 hectares and lemon on three hectares of land.
Khulna divisional forest conservator Mihir Kumar Dey told reporters that they recovered the dead bodies of 26 deer washed up from east division of the Sundarbans and rescued 17 injured deer and released those in the forest after primary treatment.
The Sundarbans remained under water for 30 hours.
“We fear that the deer died as they failed to swim ashore fowling the tidal surge that submerged the deep areas of the forest,” he said.
Dey said that they are still continuing the rescue and searching operations.
“Under the influence of the Remal, a vast area of the forest was inundated as the rivers and canals around the forest swelled up with over 10-feet tidal surge. Due to the high tidal surge, we feared casualties of animals. We recovered 26 bodies of deer in two days. The forest department is concerned,” he said.
Besides, authorities concerned also recovered three bodies of deer which were floated on the Boleshwar River at Pathaghata of Borguna.
Kazi Muhammad Nurul Karim, divisional forest officer of Sundarbans East zone, told reporters that they are still not visiting all the places as the sea and rivers remained rough.
“The tidal surge continues for about 25 to 30 hours. As result, we heard of causalities of many animals. We will able to know the actual scenario after detailed information,” he said.
Fish farmers of Khulna said that they incurred about Tk 250 crore financial loss as several hundred fish enclosures had been washed away.
Khulna district fisheries officer Joydeb Paul said some 3,600 ponds and 9,115 fishing enclosures of 38 unions washed away during the storm, incurring a loss of Tk 245.95 crore.
Some 3,600 ponds on 355 hectares of land, 9,115 fishing enclosures on 10,223 hectares and 1,356 farms of crabs on 1,590 hectares of land were damaged during the storm, he said.
