Tauhid Hossain Sarkar:
Injustice and corruption are going on with the fair demands of farmers in Rajmangal Cuttack Bazar Sahapur area of ​​Ward No. 9 of Jagannathpur Union No. 6 of Adarsh ​​Sadar Upazila of Comilla. It has been alleged that some local people are forcibly collecting extra money from farmers by violating the rules of the irrigation project set by the government.
The price fixed for every hundredth of land through the government’s BADC 5 cusec irrigation project is 60 taka, but two local influential people named Md. Masuk Mia, who is the ward president of A’League and Md. Noor Alam, are forcibly collecting it from farmers at the rate of 100 taka. In this, farmers are having to pay 40 taka more per hundredth, which is 2 lakh taka annually and about 30 lakh taka has been taken from farmers unjustly in the last 15 years.
Farmers’ complaints and suffering
The affected farmers said that they are being forced to pay more than the fixed price. Without following the rules of the prescribed irrigation committee, these two people are forcibly supplying irrigation water and charging higher prices.
A farmer said, “Even when we want to take advantage of the government irrigation project, they stop us. They forcefully collect more money from us. This is increasing our production costs, but the price of the crops is not increasing.”
Violation of government irrigation project guidelines
Collecting more money from farmers beyond the fixed price of BADC is a clear violation of government rules. According to BADC rules, it is mandatory to maintain transparency in the management of irrigation projects. However, here, local influential people are exploiting the weaknesses of the farmers and looting their money.
Silent role of the administration
Although complaints have been made to the concerned administration in this regard, no effective action has been taken so far. The farmers have appealed to the administration to investigate and stop such unfair practices quickly and so that they can get irrigation facilities at the fixed price.
The farmers have filed a written petition with the concerned authorities on 26 February 2025 seeking relief from this illegal encroachment and compensation. They have urged the administration and the government to take immediate action to protect the rights of the farmers. They have said that if the matter is not investigated and necessary action is not taken soon, the affected farmers will be forced to go on a major agitation. It remains to be seen how quickly the administration takes effective action in this regard.
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