Home ›› 20 Apr 2022 ›› Nation
A total of 312 more ponds were re-excavated to reduce the gradually mounting pressure on underground water in the high Barind area aiming to promote the use of surface water.
“We have brought the ponds which were derelict and unfit for use under re-excavation in eight upazilas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon districts,” said Engineer Nur-E-Azam Siddikey on Tuesday.
Around 1.21 lakh people, including 60,084 women and 15,020 ethnic minorities, are being benefited from the ponds.
Engineer Siddiqui of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) Project said the venture has created scopes of saving around 1.20 crore liter of underground water in terms of household use, while 54.66 lakh liters for livestock rearing.
Apart from this, the beneficiaries are using the pond water to irrigate 832 hectares of land as supplementary irrigation.
Gopal Saren, 46, a resident of Barsapara village in Godagari upazila, is now happy for getting water from one of the ponds which was re-excavated near his residence.
“We had to face multifarious problems in fetching water for our six-member family,” he said, adding the pond has become a blessing for his family and many other neighboring ones.
Bharati Mormu, 48, another resident of Purapara village under the same upazila, said the re-excavated ponds have created opportunities of cultivating various seasonal crops and vegetables round the year.
She said that they had to suffer a lot to cultivate crops due to shortage of irrigation water but the situation has changed to some extent as a result of re-excavating the ponds.
Stifan Soren, 38, of Sahapara village, said the re-excavated ponds are helping them to overcome the present water crisis caused by prolonged drought in the Barind area.
DASCOH Foundation and Swiss Red Cross are jointly implementing the project in 39 Unions and three Pourasabhas in the three districts supported by Switzerland. They are also supplying safe drinking water in drought-prone areas where acute crisis of potable water exists.
