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NAZIRPUR’S FLOATING MARKET

Lifeline by boat faces dry season challenges
KM HABIBUR RAHMAN, Pirojpur
On the canals of Pirojpur’s Nazirpur upazila, men can be observed selling vegetables straight from their boats at the Boithakata floating market.
“I have been coming to the market every Tuesday and Saturday to sell vegetables since my childhood. We mainly rely on boats to communicate to different areas within the upazila as we don’t have any feasible alternatives in the absence of proper rural roads connecting the areas,” said Iskandar Ali, 65.
Md Abual Hossain, another vegetable seller, echoed him.
Numerous others were seen coming to the market from different areas in the upazila -- including Manoharpur, Sonapur, Padmadubi, Beel Dumuria, Pakuria, and Madhubhanga villages -- all using boats to buy and sell an array of goods such as rice, puffed rice, plant saplings and vegetables.
Almost all activities in the market, including transactions, are conducted on boats.
“We are largely dependent on boats for buying or selling goods, as it is the only convenient mode of transport in this area,” said Nanna Mia, a local.
Vast areas within Daulbari, Dobra, Kolardoania and Malikhali unions of Nazirpur upazila; Boldia union of Nesarabad upazila in Pirojpur, and some areas under Barishal’s Banaripara upazila are mostly marshland. Thus, they do not have well-developed rural road communication, thereby making boats the most important mode of transport in the area. As a result, boats are an important part of the local economy.
While the boats can usually serve this purpose without any issues, the dry season often negatively impacts this. During the dry season, the water level in the marshes and canals falls, making it difficult for boats to naviage the water.
“Crops are usually harvested when the dry season is approaching. As a result, using boats to sell our harvest can sometimes be difficult when water in these canals dry up,”said Abdur Razzak, a local resident.
Mizanur Rahman, a businessman at Boithakata Bazar, said there is only one road from the market that connects to the Nazirpur upazila headquarters. Other than that, there is no direct road communication facility in the area. “It would have benefitted the people of the region significantly if the various areas could be connected through rural road networks.”
Contacted, Arup Ratan Singha, upazila nirbahi officer of Nazirpur, said they are aware of the poor road communication facilities within four unions under the upazila.
“We have addressed this issue in our monthly development meeting. The upazila administration will communicate with departments concerned of the government for developing the rural road networks in the upazila,” he said.
“Presently, we are prioritising renovation of the around 17km Nazirpur-Boithakata road that connects the four unions with the upazila headquarters,” the UNO also said.
“The upazila administration has some limitations in conducting construction of roads and bridges. On the other hand, the Local Government Engineering Department can do these development works on a larger scale,” he added.
Contacted, BM Mahmudul Hasan, upazila engineer of LGED in Nazirpur, could not provide any information in this regard as he had joined the office only a month back.