Flash floods in haors

Relief materials, money sent to 5 districts

Open Market Sales begin at Sunamganj

The authorities have begun dispatching tonnes of rice and large sums of money as relief for the people affected by flash floods in the five districts of Sylhet, Sunamganj, Maulvibazar, Netrokona and Kishoreganj, where incessant rainfall caused the spilling of rivers and submergence of land with the Boro rice crop almost ready for harvest.
Mohammad Shah Kamal, the secretary of the disaster management and relief ministry, said large quantities of rice and cash relief had been sent to the six districts.
He said high-level ministry officials in the districts had been directed to supervise the relief operations. The secretary added that he had already visited the places to personally assess the damage.
Meanwhile, open market sales (OMS) of food are being organised by the Sunamganj district administration from today to help those hit by the sudden deluge earlier this month. The deluge caused the Surma and Kushiara to swell and sent waters cascading down the hills to flood some 89,790 hectares of Boro rice fields planted on the ‘haors’ (wetlands).
“We have taken up the OMS programme to keep the market stable, which showed some fluctuations, going up a little while the people were about to harvest their main crop in the wetlands,” Sunamganj deputy commissioner (DC) Sheikh Rafiqul Islam told The Independent on Monday over phone. He said the flooding had affected 22 of the district’s 42 haors, leaving the remaining 20 mostly unaffected.
About other plans to help the affected thousands, the district administrator said he had already sent requests for the introduction of the Prime Minister’s food- friendly programme that offers rice at Tk. 10 per kg to help the people cope with the heavy damage they had suffered, losing the only rice crop they grow on the wetlands that was nearly ready for harvest.
However, quoting weather reports, he said, there was no further chance of heavy rain in the region and a repeated deluge.
In Dhaka yesterday, the Haor Advocacy Platform, a coalition of NGOs, said in a news conference at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) that crops worth at least Tk. 2,000 crore had been lost because of the flash floods that washed away flood barriers. They attributed the collapse of the protective formations mainly to irregularities, corruption, and mismanagement.
Asaduzzaman Sharif, joint convener of the platform, read out a written statement, saying that their findings during a recent visit to the affected wetlands of Sunamganj, when the flood barriers were being raised, pointed to such irregularities.
Among others, information technology specialist Mostafa Jabbar, Bangladesh Agro-Processors’ Association (BAPA) joint secretary Mihir Biswas, farmer Mofiqul Islam of Jamalganj’s halib Haor, Narayanchandra Das of Netrokona’s Dingapota haor, Anisul Islam, Monisha Biswas, Shekhar Chandra, Asif Khan and Modabber Hossain were present at the news conference.

 

Flash floods in haors

Relief materials, money sent to 5 districts

Open Market Sales begin at Sunamganj

The authorities have begun dispatching tonnes of rice and large sums of money as relief for the people affected by flash floods in the five districts of Sylhet, Sunamganj, Maulvibazar, Netrokona and Kishoreganj, where incessant rainfall caused the spilling of rivers and submergence of land with the Boro rice crop almost ready for harvest. Mohammad Shah Kamal, the secretary of the disaster management and relief ministry, said large quantities of rice and cash relief had been sent to the six districts. He said high-level ministry officials in the districts had been directed to supervise the relief operations. The secretary added that he had already visited the places to personally assess the damage. Meanwhile, open market sales (OMS) of food are being organised by the Sunamganj district administration from today to help those hit by the sudden deluge earlier this month. The deluge caused the Surma and Kushiara to swell and sent waters cascading down the hills to flood some 89,790 hectares of Boro rice fields planted on the haors (wetlands). We have taken up the OMS programme to keep the market stable, which showed some fluctuations, going up a little while the people were about to harvest their main crop in the wetlands, Sunamganj deputy commissioner (DC) Sheikh Rafiqul Islam told The Independent on Monday over phone. He said the flooding had affected 22 of the districts 42 haors, leaving the remaining 20 mostly unaffected. About other plans to help the affected thousands, the district administrator said he had already sent requests for the introduction of the Prime Ministers food- friendly programme that offers rice at Tk. 10 per kg to help the people cope with the heavy damage they had suffered, losing the only rice crop they grow on the wetlands that was nearly ready for harvest. However, quoting weather reports, he said, there was no further chance of heavy rain in the region and a repeated deluge. In Dhaka yesterday, the Haor Advocacy Platform, a coalition of NGOs, said in a news conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) that crops worth at least Tk. 2,000 crore had been lost because of the flash floods that washed away flood barriers. They attributed the collapse of the protective formations mainly to irregularities, corruption, and mismanagement. Asaduzzaman Sharif, joint convener of the platform, read out a written statement, saying that their findings during a recent visit to the affected wetlands of Sunamganj, when the flood barriers were being raised, pointed to such irregularities. Among others, information technology specialist Mostafa Jabbar, Bangladesh Agro-Processors Association (BAPA) joint secretary Mihir Biswas, farmer Mofiqul Islam of Jamalganjs halib Haor, Narayanchandra Das of Netrokonas Dingapota haor, Anisul Islam, Monisha Biswas, Shekhar Chandra, Asif Khan and Modabber Hossain were present at the news conference.