In defiance of the government ban, digging of ponds is going on freely in the agricultural land of Sirajganj. Even though the destruction of agricultural land is going on with the connivance of some dishonest officials of the government office, the role of the administration is mysterious.
However, Tarash upazila administration has not even conducted an operation so far. Therefore, the work of digging the pond is going on freely day and night. By this, not only the agricultural land is being destroyed, but there is also a danger of adverse effects on the environment. About 8 to 10 thousand ponds have been dug in the three crop fields for the past few months. Due to this, the crop land in the upazila has decreased by about 4 thousand hectares.
Not only the agricultural land is decreasing, but the road highways are also getting damaged due to the movement of soil cutting trolleys. If it is not ended soon, the agriculturalists fear that it will have an adverse effect on the environment, including flooding.
It has been seen on the ground that the pond cutting festival is going on in various crop fields of Tarash Municipality, Talam, Baruhas, Saguna, Magurabinod, Naogaon, Tarash Sadar, Madhainagar and Desigram Union of the upazila. In the last decade and a half, it has not been possible to stop the trend of cutting ponds in three-crop fertile land. This is how illegal pond digging is going on in the three crop fields by cutting such green paddy in the village field. Although there is a government ban on digging ponds in agricultural land, the pond owners of this upazila are not obeying it.
As a result of digging ponds, agricultural land will decrease on the one hand, and agricultural production will also decrease. Besides, many are digging ponds in the hope of temporary profit. Such destruction of agricultural land is not stopped in any way due to lack of administration's campaign. Along with this, no action is being taken due to the involvement of some dishonest officials of the upazila administration. The influential people involved in the incident have always remained elusive. On the one hand, it is having an adverse effect on the environment and climate, as well as creating various problems in public life. Illegal tractors to carry soil freely ply on the highways; the roads are destroyed in a short time. Besides, driving by incompetent drivers is also causing accidents and fatalities. On the one hand, digging ponds is against the law and destroying agricultural crops by digging ponds is another big crime. About a hundred excavator machine owners of the upazila are involved in this. Mir Shahidul Islam Shahid, convenor of Upazila Krishak Bachao Andolan said that basically they have been digging ponds by managing different people. He also informed that, to take measures in this regard, we have sent a memorandum to the Upazila Nirbahi Officer along with several rounds of human chains, but the pond has not been closed in any way, but the digging of more ponds has increased. The residents of Tarash demand to take effective steps to stop digging ponds to save agricultural land and prevent adverse effects on food production.
In this regard, Sirajganj District Commissioner Mir Mohammad Mahbubar Rahman, according to my knowledge, there is an operation to stop the digging of ponds in Tarash. They will be active in following the government order to stop digging ponds in future.
