Satkhira villagers remove silt from Betna river on self-help basis
Our Correspondent, Satkhira
It was a different day for people at Shalley village in Sadar upazila when hundreds of villagers in seven adjoining villages joined hands to remove silt from the riverbed of the Betna on Thursday. Earlier, several appeals of the villagers made to the higher authorities for removal of silt from the river went unheeded resulting in filling up of the Shalley sluice gate. The villages are Shalley, Parshalley, Machhkhola, Harinkhola, Ahsan Nagar, Shakdah and Goalpota. During a visit to the village, this correspondent saw that people of all walks of life were removing silt with their hands near the sluice gate constructed to drain out rainwaters of over 25 beels (water bodies) in the area. He saw students, teachers, farmers and poor day labourers were removing silt with their hands. The atmosphere was cordial. While working, the jubilant people were singing songs to keep up their spirit. The Water Development Board (WDB) constructed the sluice gate in the early 70s on the bank of the Betna for the purpose. But the sluice gate became inoperative after deposition of silt of the river during the last five years. Over 25,000 people of the aforesaid villages including the adjoining villages remained marooned and crops on thousand of acres of land were damaged due to water logging in the rainy season every year. This is because of failure to pass rainwater of the beels through the sluice gate following deposition of silt in and around the gate. Rainwaters of over 25 beels drained out to the river through the sluice gate. Over 25,000 people of the aforementioned villages were suffering a lot during the rainy season for years together as rainwater remained stagnant creating water logging for a long time. The villagers said their repeated appeals to the WDB authorities, Union Parishad (UP) chairman and former parliament members went unheeded in the past. None came forward to our aid, said Advocate Nurul Islam at Shalley village. Finally, we sat at a meeting and decided to do the job on self-help basis, he said. The meeting divided all the villagers into several groups, Union Parishad (UP) member Shib Prasad Mondal said. The groups worked alternately. The work completed on Thursday, he said. Other villagers said political leaders came to them before every election to seek vote. They promised to remove silt from the sluice gate area. But after the elections, they forgot their promises. 'No one can change their condition if we do not help ourselves', they said.
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