Jamaat burns farmers’ future in Kansat

Thousands of farmers risk a massive Boro crop loss in Chapainawabganj district, as the paddy seedlings are getting parched due to lack of irrigation with no power to run the pumps. Jamaat activists burnt the local power substation on Feb 28.

Special Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 19 March 2013, 10:18 AM
Updated : 19 March 2013, 10:20 AM

Paddy seedlings planted on thousands of acres of land are drying up in the high temperature of the Bengali month of Chaitra, when high heat reigns everywhere in the country.

Shibganj upazila and some adjoining area of the district are without electricity since Feb 28 as hundreds of activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir vandalised and torched the Kansat Palli Bidyut substation and its premises during its violent protests after the International Crimes Tribunal-1 awarded death penalty to Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee.

The rest house and residential quarters of the Palli Bidyut substation were also burned down by the unruly activists of the Jamaat and Shibir.

The substation used to supply power to 150 deep tube-wells, 1,499 shallow tube-wells and 15 low-lift pumps (LLP) in the region.

The officials of the district’s Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said Boro paddy cultivation on some 7,100 hectares of land is now threatened due to lack of irrigation.

DAE Deputy Director Abul Kalam Azad told bdnews24.com that Boro farming in some parts of the Sadar, Gomostapur and Bholahat upazilas apart from Shibganj would also be hampered to a great extent due to lack of irrigation.

The farmers are coming to tube-well stations everyday to know when the waters will be available for irrigation. But the operators cannot give them any assurance.

During a spot visit, the bdnews24.com Correspondent found that the newly planted paddy seedlings were shrivelled and there was no water in the farmland. Cracks had developed in the paddy field due to excessive heat.

Aminul Islam, an operator of a deep tube-well, at Gorokkhonathpur said: “Not only the substation of the Kansat Palli Bidyut office, but also the fate of thousands of farmers has been burnt.”

Shah Alam, the operator of the deep tube-well at Pokapari farmland, said that on requests from the farmers, he is going to Kansat Palli Bidyut office everyday to know when the power supply may resume. But the officials are yet to give any specific time of electricity supply resumption.

State Minister for Power Enamul Haque visited the ravaged site a few days back. Though he assured during the visit that the substation would be repaired soon, he did not say anything specifically when power supply might resume.

Hossain Ali, a marginalized farmer of Guptamanik village of Shibganj upazila who cultivated Boro paddy on 28 kathas of his land, said: “The paddy seedlings are parched due to lack of water.”

“I’ve nothing to do but to watch it,” said the farmer with tears in his eyes.

Another farmer Harun Mia of Raninagar village told bdnews24.com that the middle-class farmers can protect some of their paddy seedlings by installing one or two diesel-run pumps, but the poor farmers cannot afford that.

Shahjahan Ali of Chhatrajitpur village, who cultivated Boro on his 1.5 acres of land, said: “At least 35 mounds of rice could be produced there and I could pay back some borrowed money. But everything now has become uncertain.”

Sharecroppers Saifuddin, Rabiul and Bhodu Mondol of Gorokkhonathpur area also gave almost similar descriptions.

The local Jamaat leaders denied the responsibility of the destruction unleashed at the Kansat Palli Bidyut substation. They claimed that the people got angry at the ICT verdict and carried out the arson attack.

However, the leaders of the ruling Awami League and other political parties said the Palli Bidyut substation was torched at the direct provocation of Jamaat leaders.