Mongla-Ghoshiakhali canal banks and floodplains occupying thousands of acres of government land, the fish farming festival is going on.
Many have started living by taking possession of these lands and building houses along with large farms and fish farming. There is a fear that the government's land worth thousands of takas will become vacant.
The channel is under new threat as the water flow of the channel banks and floodplains is obstructed. Experts fear that the world heritage the Sundarbans and Mongla port will also be threatened.
Bagerhat District Administration, Bagerhat Water Development Board and BIWTAs are concerned with indifference and lack of monitoring, environmentalist organizations and conscious circles have raised allegations that such a large amount of valuable land or bank land is going to be left bare.
It is known that the Mongla-Ghoshiakhali channel is 27 km long. It loses its navigability due to climate change and man-made obstructions. Later, with the intervention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the channel was excavated and opened at a cost of about Tk. 500 crores.
To protect the navigability of the channel, a 5 km area of the main channel is separated by a loop cut at Romjaipur point. 5 km long and about 300 meters wide main part of the river is not excavated, it has now turned into a narrow canal, which extends across the Kaliganj area of Mujibnagar and Romjaipur points, Baradia, Chotadia, Kumarkhali Mauza.
A section of the five kilometer channel has caused river erosion since the 1960s due to changes in river course. About a thousand acres of land is supposed to be included in the government Khas Khatians, but there are questions about it.
It has been alleged for a long time that there are various inconsistencies in the government's land management even in its maintenance. After the erosion of the river, Char surfaced land was taken by a class of alleged landless and land robbers by 'managing' some corrupt officials of the Rampal Settlement Office and the Rampal Assistant Commissioner Land’s office and prepared and recorded the fake documents. Even some of them have grabbed the land by submitting fake documents in the court. If the land of private ownership is broken and lost in the river and falls on the other side, the land robbers take ownership of it by preparing documents, which is believed to be revealed by investigation.
Again at Mujibnagar Point the land grabbers have once again encroached on the river banks and flood plains and started embankment.
It was alleged that Sheikh Belal, son of Sheikh Ilyas of Mujibnagar village, Sheikh Mukul, son of Rustum Sheikh, Sheikh Shariful, Sheikh Saiful, Sheikh Arif, son of Sheikh Saiful and Sheikh Solaiman, and Mozaffar Hossain, son of deceased Sheikh Mahatab, led by Mizan Mallik of Gilatala, were laying siege.
When Malik Mizanur Rahman was asked about this, he denied the allegation.
Sheikh Belal, Mukul, Arif and Shariful said that all of them are occupying government land and cultivating fish with dams. Mizan Master's people are preventing us from building the dam. All surrounded the land. We are at fault!
In this regard, Member Secretary of 'Mongla-Ghoshiakhali Channel Raksha Sangram Committee' Molla Abdus Sabur Rana complained that due to the lack of supervision of Bagerhat District Administration, concerned Water Development Board and BIWTA, land worth thousands of crores of taka has become vacant. The navigability of the river is declining and the channel is under threat.
In this regard, Rampal Upazila Nirbahi Officer Rahima Sultana Bushra said that everything will be done to protect the navigability of Mongla-Ghoshiakhali channel. Appropriate action will be taken against illegal encroachments of government land.
She expressed regret that due to the shortage of manpower, land management is being hampered.