Water is life. But when water is used to punish or kill life it is a homicidal attempt. With all of its life-affirming and throat-quenching qualities, water in the wrong hands can bring death upon any poor soul who is subjected to its deadly power. Human race has found many a way to use water against each other, with a motive to causing as much deaths and pains as possible.
Polluting or stopping water of a river is deemed an act of war against the people of a country or a community who are dependent on the water of that river. Such actions may result in deaths of millions. If a country or a community intentionally or negligently pollutes water in an upstream river resulting in deaths of humans, animals, and plants in the downstream such an act may be interpreted as a war using water (or chemical) weapons of mass destruction.
Of late, Bangladeshi people are having nightmares and crying havoc after watching and hearing the horror news about death of fish, birds, and animals in 'haors' located in areas near India-Bangladesh border. As reported, more than 50 tons of fish died in Sunamganj alone. Not only fish, ducks are dying too. Maybe, soon the plants and humans will follow suit. Experts are suspecting huge amount of uranium from open pits in India exposed to a river system that blended with flood water reaching Bangladesh behind such large-scale deaths. Insecticides used in the crops now being dissolved with flood water may also be another cause.
Flash flood is not a new phenomenon. Almost every year Bangladesh is visited by such floods. But the deaths of fish, frogs, ducks, and other living beings in their hundreds is something new and alarming. It has not yet been proven that uranium from open pits in India is definitely connected with this tragedy in Bangladesh. But Khasi communities living in Ranikor River basins, just across the Indo-Bangladesh border near Sunamganj, once raised alarm after deaths of fish in large scale due to what they suspected uranium toxins from drilling pits kept open and exposed to river systems.
Recent flash floods submerged vast wetlands of Sylhet, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Netrokona, Kishorganj, Brahmanbaria, and Moulvibazar. The flash floods in the haor regions are ominous signs of climate change that seems looming over Bangladesh.
Farmers and fishermen are shocked. They have lost words to express their pains. No local in his lifetime ever found fish, frogs and fowls dying in such a scale and even standing paddy rotting after floods. Spawns of different kinds of fish released in their leased beels and haors which could yield millions of fries have either died or washed away.
Peasants living near haor areas are facing one tragedy after another. They first lost a good harvest of Boro crops due to flash flood, then their fish are gone mysteriously, and lastly their ducks are dead, too. It's a Triple Whammy! Their dreams of having a good life in the coming months have evaporated into smoke. Some farmers are dying of heart attack. Some may have even committed suicide. They are now selling their living livestock at throwaway prices fearing an uncertain future.
Experts from the Botany Department of Dhaka University have collected samples of fish and water from the affected areas and will hopefully come up with their findings soon. As instructed by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock locals near different haor areas have been advised over loudspeakers to stop catching fish and duck until the water becomes normal.
Last year in May there was a piece of alarming news that fish were dying by the millions all over the planet. Millions upon millions of dead sea-creatures were suddenly washing up on beaches all over the world. Why?
It is certainly not unusual for fish, birds, animals or other inhabitants of our land and water to die naturally or due to some unusual characteristics of planetary behaviour or due to human stupidities. This has happened since time immemorial.
But over the past few years we have seen a series of extremely alarming mass death incidents all over the planet and over the recent months we have also witnessed deaths of fish and fowls in Bangladesh. It seems to have gotten to the level where it has to be considered as a major national and international crisis. But, one thing is sure that all these recent deaths are caused by human interventions---either by exposing uranium pits to river water, for an instance or by climate change fuelled by our zealous burning of gases that are thinning the ozone layers of our planet.
[email protected]
- Sunday, 24 November 2024 |
- Today's FE |
- e-Paper |
- Beta Website
