C T Online Desk: Immediate dredging of the elevated mudbanks of the Surma and Kushiyara rivers has been included as a priority task in the Bangladesh Delta Plan (BDP 2100), with the government taking into notice the higher magnitude of pre-monsoon floods in the northeast and the Haor belt.
Sylhet has been experiencing the worst pre-monsoon flood in 18 years. The embankment built in 2004 at the confluence of Barak-Surma-Kushiyara collapsed on Thursday, washing away vast swaths of cropland, and damaging homesteads, and other vital infrastructure.
The current spate of the rain-fed deluge has challenged the water-flowing capacities of the Surma and Kushiyara. The rivers that originate from India’s Barak and ultimately flow down to constitute one of Bangladesh’s three main river systems – the Meghna. The Meghna later meets the Padma and empties into the Bay of Bengal.
The issue of river dredging as a priority task was prominently discussed in yesterday’s meeting of the Delta Governing Council, the highest body to oversee the country’s most far-visioned plan ever – the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP 2100).
It says the conveyance capacity of the flashy rivers – the Surma and the Kushiyara – must be increased through strategic maintenance, dredging, and re-excavation. Conveyance capacity means the water flow-carrying capacity of a river.
Flashy rivers are rivers that flood and recede very suddenly. A defining characteristic of this type of river is that the flood hydrograph is very steep.
State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur Rahman acknowledged that the build-up of silt and elevation of the riverbeds of the Surma and the Kushiyara are key reasons, along with high-intensity upper catchment rainfalls (in northeast India), for the current spate of high magnitude pre-monsoon floods in Sylhet, Sunamganj, and the surrounding regions.
