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Drastic Fall in Kaptai Water Level

Transport thru’ Rangamati waterway threatened

Shantimoy Chakma, Rangamati
Prolonged drought-like situation in the current dry season has led to a drastic fall in the water level of Kaptai Lake, much to the sufferings of locals due to navigation problem in the area.
As plying of big passenger launches has remained stopped for the last 20 days,
people of six of the ten upazilas in the district are facing difficulty in maintaining communication with the district headquarters.
Due to the navigation problem, prices of daily necessaries at markets in remote areas of the district have increased as the commodities cannot reach in time, locals said.
Water communication
through the lake will be totally closed in next few days if there is not adequate rainfall, said Moeen Uddin Selim, a launch owner.
Currently, a number of shoals have emerged in Baghaichhari, Longudu, Barkal. Jurachhari, Bilaichari and Naniachar routes, threatening big passenger launches and trawlers.
Even small steamers now
find it difficult to ply different routes due to sharp fall in water level.
Massive landslides occur in the hills during the rainy season every year, and consequent silt deposition from the upper streams causes decrease of navigability in the Kaptai l.ake.
Kaptai, the biggest artificial lake in the Southeast Asia, created to harness the current
of the Karnaphuli River for Kaptai Hydroelectric Power Project in 1960, plays an important role in development of trade and commerce in the area as it facilitates transport through the waterways.
The lake is also famous for sweet water fishes and the government earns crores of taka as revenue from it every year.
But production of fishes in the lake, especially of the large species including ruhi, mrigcl and katla, is gradually declining as deposition of silt damages the natural breeding grounds in the lake, sources in Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation said.
If the lake is not dredged on an emergency basis, plying of launches and boats on different routes connecting six upazilas in the district might see a complete closure within a few years, experts said.
Launch owners and traders have also expressed similar fear.
Meanwhile, the district administration has requested the mayor of Rangamati Municipality to see that the town people refrain from dumping wastes into the lake to keep the water pollution-free.
"I have also asked the mayor to remain watchful about hill cutting so that natural disaster can be averted," said Rangamati Deputy Commissioner Sourendra Nath Chakrabarty.