& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Waiting for the water to roll

MORSHED Al J KHAN, back from Manikganj
On May 22, Jamuna Bangabandhu Bridge Authority recorded water level under the bridge at 7.85 metres. With the start of the flood season and heavy rainfall in the upstream, water in the Jamuna river was rising, slowly inundating hundreds of sandy shoals.
On the bank of the Jamuna at Charkatari under Daulatpur thana of Manikganj district, where the mouth of dried up Ghior canal met the river, Shahid Majhi and many others sat in their large motorboats and waited Some of the boatmen nearby prepared coarse rice on firewood while others gazed at the sand;, bed of Ghior. Scorching sun baked the desert-like bed of the canal, and the southerly air felt hot and humid.
According to Shahid Majhi, during the same period every year hundreds of boatmen, who earn their living mainly by ferrying merchandise to Dhaka from the northern districts across the Jamuna, Padma, and the Brahmaputra rivers, wait for the Jamuna water to enter Ghior canal reviving the easiest way to reach the Buriganga river within only four hours.
Hopefully the water is going to enter the canal in three days time during the high tide of the moonless night," said Madhu Mandal, the headman of a nearby boat.
Shahid Majhi. Abdul Gani, and Madhu Mandal, who mainly ferry Indian cattle to Dhaka, said the river Pungli in the upstream and Ghior canal, two leading waterways to Dhaka, start drying up in September. As soon as navigation will become impossible in these waterways, we either have to give up our profession or make a 100-kilometre detour to reach Dhaka through Tait ala canal in Munshiganj," Abdul Ganipointcdout.
"If any of these rivers or canals is opened up for navigation round the year, hundreds of traders from the northern districts destined for Dhaka, will use this route for easier and cheaper transportation," Madnu Mandal added.
The boatmen said every year as soon as navigability is restored in the canal, hundreds of boats Jaden with different merchandise from Rajshahi, Rangpur, Sirajganj, Gaibandha, and other places rush there. Carrying merchandise through these waterways is much cheaper and easier, as the boats can be directly anchored at the business hub in the capital's Sadarghat area.
The entire stretch of Ghior canal, which winds its way through the rivers Kaliganga, Bangsi, and Dhaleshwari into the river Buriganga, remains dry for up to eight months a year. Along its way, a handful number of lucky villages are blessed with some water pockets, where the ’villagers wash and bathe.
Ambia Begum of Sometpur village explained how she nas to walk more than a kilometre everyday for her daily washing. A mother of three children, Ambia said when Ghior canal dries up for over seven months a year, village women face their toughest days.
. "1 have to carry a pitcher in one hand, my clothes in the other and walk to the trapped water of Ghior canal more
than a kilometre away for washing and bathing every day," she said. The flood season brings some relief, but severe flooding often brings misery too, she added.
Ambia's father-in-law, Habibur Rahman, 70, who has always been a fanner, said years ago they used to use Ghior canal for transporting their produce to other places including Dhaka, and its water for irrigation.
"Now with the canal dried in most part of the year, we are faced with a severe transport problem, and are also unable to produce winter vegetables," Rahman added.
At Amtoli Bazar, Wahid Ali, 96, of Uttar Amtali said years ago, just after the country's independence, villagers had manually dredged Ghior canal to keep it navigable round the year.
"Following the independ ence we were so much inspired to build a beautiful country that men, women, and children all participated in the dredging, we completed the job in two weeks without any help from anybody," he reminisced.
"Now people are no longer river-bound. They prefer road transport, although it is more costly," he said.