A government project undertaken to supply drinking water to locals in Gaibandha's Gobindganj by re-excavating ponds has been rendered fruitless, with the zila parishad leasing out many of the waterbodies for fish farming.

The project, which cost Tk 1.5 crore, itself was also questionable as it was implemented without assessing if locals would even drink the water, ultimately leading to complete waste of public money.

The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) re-excavated 26 ponds between 2018 and 2020, and handed them back to the zila parishad on January 27, 2021.

Visiting different villages in the upazila, this correspondent found that at least seven of the ponds were leased out, according to the lessees, for fish farming by Gaibandha Zila Parishad.

Some of the lessees claimed all of the ponds under the project were leased out by the parishad. Villagers of the area also alleged that the parishad was giving leases to influential people.

Even acknowledging that the ponds should not be leased out for fish farming, Gaibandha Zila Parishad Administrator Ataur Rahman Ata admitted to leasing one of the ponds out for fish farming.

According to Rezwan Hossain, the executive engineer of DPHE in Gaibandha, fish farming would render the ponds unsuitable for providing drinking water.

But Ata, the administrator and also a vice-chairman of Jatiya Party's central committee, said the DPHE had not explained to them that the ponds were fit for providing drinking water when handing them back to the zila parishad.

Gaibandha Zila Parishad CEO Abdur Rauf, however, had signed off on the ponds' readiness when they were being handed back, according to documents, copies of which The Daily Star has obtained.

This apparent disconnect between the local government and a government agency is happening over a project that many of the intended beneficiaries and an expert have called unnecessary, because locals already have easy access to drinking water.

The DPHE spent around Tk 5.77 lakh to re-excavate each pond, construct walkways, barbed-wire fences around it, plant coconut trees on the banks, install a tube well and water tank with pond sand filters (PSFs) and UV filters.

Talking to people of Aligao, Enayetpur, Dharmapur and Kamdia villages, it was found that almost all houses in those areas have their own drinking water facilities. People collect drinking water from tube wells or submersible pumps. No one wanted to drink the pond water.

"The aim of the project was to encourage people to use surface water. We have done a survey in collaboration with a development partner and found the groundwater declining in this area," DPHE Executive Engineer Rezwan Hossain said recently.

He said they had not conducted a feasibility study on whether locals need this source of drinking water before implementing the project.

The groundwater level in Gobindganj upazila was between 6.5-9 metres, according to the survey conducted in May last year, after the DPHE's project was already completed.

Prof Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan of Rajshahi University's geology and mining department said, "There is no shortage of drinking water when the groundwater level is between 6.5-9 metres. Implementing such a project in an area where there is no salinity or arsenic in the groundwater is a waste of resources."

It is more important to utilise surface water for drinking in areas such as Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj where the groundwater level has gone down, he said.

Abdur Rashid, 58, a resident of Aligao village, told The Daily Star, "People of the village have been using this pond for fish farming for decades after taking lease from the zila parishad. We have no scarcity of drinking water here. No one is interested in drinking the water purified from the pond."

Rahmat Ali of Enayetpur and Amin Molla, a farmer in Kamdia village, said the same about drinking water facilities in their villages and that the government installed those facilities without conducting a needs-based assessment.

LEASES FOR FISH FARMING

In April, July and August of this year, this reporter visited seven re-excavated ponds and found that individuals, social and religious organisations were farming fish there.

"I have contacted the zila parishad authority and taken lease of the pond. I have been farming fish in the pond for the last six months," said Saiful Islam of Enayetpur village.

He claimed that almost all the ponds re-excavated by DPHE have been leased out for fish farming.

Md Belal Uddin of Aligao village said he got a three-year lease of a re-excavated pond last year for Tk 40,000 but had to transfer the contract to Aligao Uttarpara Manab Unnoyan Club following a village arbitration.

Abu Talha, vice-president of the club, said, "We have been farming fish in this pond for the last seven months. We have seen DPHE re-excavating the pond for the last two-three years to provide safe drinking water. We know that fish farming is completely prohibited there. But since the zila parishad is giving the lease, we have taken it for the development of the club."

Another pond of Enayetpur village has been leased out for three years to the village mosque committee for Tk 30,000.

Some villagers alleged that this was a quarter of the actual value of the lease.

Abdul Rahim, secretary of Enayetpur Mosque Committee, also said they knew about the pond's actual purpose, but took the lease because the zila parishad was giving it.

Ataur Rahman, who got the lease of the Araji Piarapur village pond, and Saiful Islam of Enayetpur both said the zila parishad administrator leased out all the ponds under a project for fish farming holding a ceremony.

This correspondent also found that the Chalita village pond has been leased out to a former Chhatra League leader of Dhaka College, and the Shihigao village pond to another person named Saiful Islam and Maklaim village pond to one Jahidul Islam.

The Daily Star has also obtained copies of a number of deeds signed by Gaibandha Zila Parishad CEO Rauf.

Rauf said, "The decision for leasing out comes from the zila parishad authorities. I am only the implementer of the decision."

He refused to disclose the number of ponds leased out for fish farming.

Zila Parishad Administrator Ata said, "Only one pond in Aligao village, which was re-excavated by the DPHE, has been leased out. The rest were not.

"We cannot lease out the ponds," said Ata, but when asked why they had leased out the Aligao pond, he said they did it because it was unfit for provide drinking water.

During a recent visit to some of those ponds, it was found that portions of boundary fences and many bricks of walkways were removed, and the coconut trees had died.

The DPHE signboard bearing the instructions, "Re-excavated protected pond: Bathing, washing, fishing, farming in this pond is completely prohibited" was found either damaged or removed.