Once a lifeline, the river Gumani in Pabna’s Chatmohar upazila has lost its water flow in the absence of much-needed dredging work.
Thousands of locals lives are affected as the river route is the vital way for transportation and local business. Visiting the dying river, it was seen that around three kilometre long water hyacinth infested water body hindering locals businessmen and common people to use once busy water route.
Locals said that the water hyacinth amassed at the Nurnagar Bridge and stressed more than three kilometre long.
“The Gumani was a major source of irrigation and fish resources for people in the region but now its water flow is dying due to the intense water hyacinth,” residents of Chatmohar upazila in Pabna, told Bangladesh Post.
The river is not only losing its navigability but also its breadth. These days, the width has reduced significantly, as the encroachers have grabbed significant portions of land inside the river in past years.
Shanker Kumer, resident of Mirzapur village of the upazila said, “people even can’t use the river way and its water as the water body lost its flow.”
He demanded immediate dredging work to revive the river.
Nimaichara Union Parishad Chairman Nurjahan Begum Mukti said, “Boat movement remains halt in this river for more than one and a half month for intense water hyacinth in the water body.”
“These water hyacinth must be removed as earliest possible time to revive the water route,” she told Bangladesh Post.