There has been an incident of filling the Kashipur River (aka Karatkhali Canal) between Patuakhali Sadar Upazila and Bauphal Upazila with sand funded by the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief without following any government regulations. This started a new trend of occupying a part of the flowing river. And to avoid responsibility, the relevant departments of the government are claiming the river land as Sikisti land. But the locals say otherwise.
According to Bauphal upazila administration sources, Tk 35 lakh has been allocated under the ‘Kabita’ project of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief for the financial year 2023-2024 in the name of sustainable development of the fish market adjacent to Kashipur Kheyaghat. However, in the name of sustainable market development, the river has been filled with sand by piling tree stumps. The issue of river filling has been omitted in the document. Upazila Project Implementation Officer Rajiv Biswas expressed his inability to give detailed information about what will be done with the 35 lakh taka and how this money was spent or allocated. According to the same union, another 50 lakh rupees have been allocated through Kabita project. According to the source, in order to create an alternative route for travel from Patuakhali to Lohalia to Bauphal upazila and to divert water, Sulis Gate was constructed by damming the river at Kasipur, a branch of Lohalia Galachipa River at a place called Kashipur in the 90s. According to locals it is also known as Karat Khali Canal. Although the river exists and flows on both sides of the dam, mangrove forest has been created on the southern side of the river, and the southern bank of the river has been filled with silt. However, in some places the banks of the river have been occupied and built. Recently, a large area in the river on the south side of the dam has been filled with sand. However, it is known from several sources that a former Member of Parliament of Bauphal has inaugurated this river filling with supervision.
When asked about this, Patuakhali District Commissioner Md Noor Qutubul Alam said, ‘The work has been done under a project called ‘Sustainable Development of Kashipur Kheyaghat Fish Market’ under the Kabita project of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief. If the site is river land, there is no scope for other uses. Even after this, necessary steps will be taken after inquiry in this matter. If sand is filled in river land, it must be removed. But from what I see in the documents, the place is registered as Sikisti.
Meanwhile, by analyzing the satellite images, it can be seen that even in 2014, even in 2014, this place was a part of the flowing river even though a dam was placed at Kashipur in the 1990s. And until the filling, water flowed in the place during the tide. At present the part that has been filled is the entire area of ​​the river.
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