With flash floods devastating croplands in the northeast, the government has abandoned plans to build more roads in the Haor wetlands to ensure that water can flow uninterrupted through the region.
The decision was made at a Cabinet meeting on Monday presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, reports bdnews24.com.
“The prime minister instructed the authorities to study the feasibility of building bridges every half kilometre along the existing road so that water can flow uninterrupted under the bridge,” said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while briefing journalists at the Secretariat after the meeting.
The Haor region is frequently affected by floods due to the hilly topography and steep slope of the rivers draining the area. These flash floods spill onto low-lying flood plain lands in the region, damaging crops, infrastructure, livestock and property.
According to Anwarul, Hasina also said that if it was necessary to build more roads in the region they must be elevated to ensure water is not obstructed.
“The cabinet has decided to build elevated roads not only in the Haor region but also in all low-lying lands in the country,” he said.
“Particular instructions were sent out to the Roads and Highways Division to study whether the Itna-Mithamoin-Austagram Road in Kishoreganj has any effect on the water flow and the downstream flow from Sylhet,” said the cabinet secretary.
Hasina inaugurated the 29.73 km-long Itna-Mithamoin-Austagram all-weather road on Oct 8, 2020.
She had called the road a gift on behalf of President Abdul Hamid during the Mujib Year.
The road, connecting three Kishoreganj Upazilas - Itna, Mithamoin, and Austagram - goes straight through the midst of the vast Haor area in parallel with the Dhanu and Baulai rivers, starting at Itna Upazila Sadar and running through to Austagram via Mithamoin Upazila.
“The Roads and Highway Division will decide whether it is feasible to build bridges at every half kilometre of the road to ensure the unobstructed flow of water," the cabinet secretary added.
Floods in early April destroyed paddy on around 6,500 hectares of land in the region, according to the government.
Farmlands in Sylhet, Kishoreganj and Netrakona suffered heavy damage due to the flooding. The condition of the region does not support cultivation in any other season, therefore many farmers will lose everything if more flooding were to strike.
Farmers in the region claim irregularities in building and maintaining dams led to the situation.
Two large dams in Sunamganj, one in Gurmar Haor and the other in Horamondira Haor, were breached due to flooding in the past two days, threatening crops on a vast swathe of land.
Meanwhile, the government last week revealed plans to disburse a yet-to-be-determined sum in the form of a stimulus package to farmers in the Haor region after recent flash floods destroyed their crops.