Another 860 hectares of cropland submerged in Sunamganj

Another 860 hectares of cropland were submerged in Harmandir Haor in Dirai upazila of Sunamganj on Sunday night after the flood protection dam in Katakhali River collapsed, reports UNB.

After that, farmers of Sunamganj haor region have started harvesting half-ripen Boro paddy to reduce losses following instructions from the authority.

According to locals, water from the upstream have increased the water level of the rivers in haor region and created pressure at risky points of flood protection dams.

Water overflowed from Patlai River into an extended part of Gurmar haor and later a dam beside Tanguar haor watchtower broke down.

As a result, Boro paddy in South Sreepur union in Tahirpur upazila and North and South Bongshikunda union in Madhyanagar upazila went under water.

Bimal Chandra Shom, deputy director of Department of Agricultural Extension, said this year Boro paddy has been cultivated on 2,22,805 hectares of land in Sunamganj with a production target of 1.4 million metric tons. So far, harvesting is completed in only 51,000 hectares of cropland.

On 30 March, Sunamganj haor region was hit by the first phase of flash floods which inundated at least 5,000 hectares of land affecting at least 27,000 farmers, he said.

Prabir Kumar Goswami, supervising engineer of Sylhet Water Development Board said, “The water level in the Surma River has started decreasing since morning. It will decline further if it does not rain in the next 24 hours. But excessive water from Sunamganj haors is likely to enter haors in Netrakona”.

Md Jahangir Hossain, Sunamganj Deputy Commissioner said, “All the dams in Sunamganj haor region are at risk as rivers swell. We have instructed the farmers to cut 80 per cent ripen paddy after monitoring the condition of the dams.”