Construction of a much-awaited embankment starts in Jessore
Abu Bakr Siddique, Jessore
The Water Development Board (WDB) has at last started construction of an embankment of Beel Khuksia in Jessore that will benefit over five lakh people in five upazilas in the district and one upazila in Khulna. Work on the 12 kilometre peripheral embankment began on Thursday. The embankment being built under WDB's Tidal River Management (TRM) project will make 1,06,000 hectares of land freed from water-logging in Keshabpur, Monirampur, Abhoynagar and Sadar upazilas in Jessore and Dumnria upazila in Khulna, allow intensive cropping on about 60,000 hectaras of land, revive navigability in Harinadi (a river) and allow fish cultivation in 27 beels (water bodies), WDB sources and local people said. WDB's Chief Engineer in South-Western Zone Abdur Razzak inaugurated the work. Presided over by WDB Executive Engineer in Jessore Division Dipok Kumar Sarkar, the inaugural function was addressed by, among others WDB engineer SK Nurul Alam, Keshabpur Upazila Nirbahi officer (UNO) Mominur Rahman, president of Water Management Association Khairul Islam, and president of Water Management Federation AKM Shariful Islam. WDB sources said local people offered 846 hectares of land for construction of the embankment styled "Khulna-Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project". The WDB took an initiative to construct the embankment last year but could not do it as land was not available from farmers, sources said. Similar projects will be taken up subsequently in Beel Kapalia, Beel Boruna, Beel Bokor and Beel Paira in the areas, the WDB chief engineer told this correspondent.
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