Himu's Window

কয়েক দশক ধরে অনিয়ন্ত্রিতভাবে ভূগর্ভস্থ পানি উত্তোলনের কারণে দেশের বরেন্দ্র অঞ্চলের ৪০ শতাংশেরও বেশি ইউনিয়নে পানিশূন্যতা তৈরি হয়েছে। ফলে এসব এলাকায় খাবার ও সেচের পানির মারাত্মক সংকট দেখা দিয়েছে। ওয়াটার রিসোর্স প্ল্যানিং অর্গানাইজেশনের (ওয়ারপো) পক্ষ থেকে ইনস্টিটিউট অব ওয়াটার মডেলিং (আইডব্লিউএম) পরিচালিত সাম্প্রতিক এক গবেষণায় দেখা গেছে, জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের কারণে পরিস্থিতি ক্রমশ খারাপের দিকে যাচ্ছে এবং পানি সংকটাপন্ন অঞ্চলগুলোর পরিধি প্রসারিত হচ্ছে। রাজশাহী, চাঁপাইনবাবগঞ্জ ও নওগাঁ জেলাজুড়ে 'উঁচু বরেন্দ্র অঞ্চলে ভূপৃষ্ঠ ও ভূগর্ভস্থ পানি পরিস্থিতির হাইড্রোলজিক্যাল অনুসন্ধান ও মডেলিং' শীর্ষক গবেষণাটি ২০১৮ সালে শুরু হয় এবং জুন মাসে ওয়ারপো কর্তৃক অনুমোদিত হয়। ১৯৯০, ২০০০, ২০১০ ও ২০২১ সালে বরেন্দ্র অঞ্চলের পানির স্তর সরকার ও সুইস এজেন্সি ফর ডেভেলপমেন্ট অ্যান্ড কো-অপারেশনের (এসডিসি) যৌথ অর্থায়নে আগস্ট মাসের প্রথমদিকে চূড়ান্ত প্রতিবেদন প্রকাশ করা হবে বলে জানিয়েছেন, ওয়ারপোর মহাপরিচালক রেজাউল মাকসুদ জাহেদী। এই জটিল সমস্যা সমাধানের জন্য, গবেষণাটিতে পানি সংকটাপন্ন এলাকাগুলোতে সংকটে...

Bidyut Kumar Mondol, a farmer from Kamardha village in Naogaon's Porsha upazila, finds himself grappling with a challenging predicament. He had prepared 23 bighas of land for cultivating Aman paddy, but his dreams have been thwarted by a relentless lack of water. As the sun scorches the land, and the last two weeks have passed without a drop of rain, Bidyut's Aman lands and seedbeds are withering away. He has only been able to plant paddy on 4.5 bighas, despite the fact that the monsoon is halfway over, leaving most of his intended area dry and desolate. "I'm done if it doesn't rain in the next two weeks of Ashar," he says, the weight of uncertainty evident in his voice. Porsha upazila, like much of its surroundings, heavily relies on rainfall for sustenance, while both surface and groundwater remain scarce resources. "In the absence of rainwater, we depend on groundwater for irrigation. But even the groundwater is reducing," Bidyut added. "I c...

Due to decades of over-extraction, more than 40 percent of unions in High Barind, an already water-stressed region of Bangladesh, are experiencing severe depletion of groundwater, says a recent study. While climate change is impacting on the aquifer recharge, the study says, the depleting areas, spread across three districts of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, and Naogaon, are expanding, limiting people’s access to water for both drinking and irrigation. Hired by the Water Resources Planning Organisation (WARPO), the Institute of Water Modeling (IWM) conducted the study titled 'Hydrological investigation and modeling of the state of the surface and groundwater resources in the High Barind region’. Beginning in 2018, the study works completed with WARPO approving the draft final report on June 25, 2023, says Md Rezaul Maksud Jahedi, director general of WARPO. The final report is likely to be published in August, he said. The figure shows the dry season groundwater situation in the High Ba...

 

A high-level committee probing the death of Sultana Jasmine, a Naogaon land office employee, visited Rajshahi today. Md Mahmudul Hossain Khan, secretary of the Coordination and Reforms wing at the Cabinet Division, told our Rajshai staff correspondent that the eight-member committee convened by him began the investigation a day before in Naogaon. Sultana, an office assistant of Naogaon municipality and Chandipur union land office, died on March 24, two days after she was detained by a team of Rab-5 on her way to work. Her death triggered criticism and the High Court questioned the authority of Rab in detaining her without any case. The ministry formed the committee on May 22 and asked it to report in 15 days. Mahmudul said they talked to Sultana's family members and government staffers in Naogaon. This morning, they went to Rajshahi circuit house and talked to Enamul Haque, deputy director of local government at the office of Rajshahi's Divisional Commissioner. They also visite...

 

Ruhul Amin, who studies textile engineering at the Bangladesh Polytechnic Institute, has successfully used the image implanting method to produce high-quality designer pears at his pond in Chhoto Palsa village under Mohonpur upazila of Rajshahi. Having taken up aquaculture a few years back in a bid to fund his education, Amin began the venture by farming breeds of carp before adding oysters to mix in July 2022 to make more profit. Oysters generally produce pearls when an irritant, such as food particles or a parasite, get lodged in their mantle, where the internal organs are stored. To defend against such foreign bodies, the oysters ooze a type of carbonate mineral and protein that create a material known as nacre, which is the nucleus of a pearl. Layers of nacre are added over time with the pearl growing in size with each excretion. However, it can take up to three years for pearls to reach an adequate size for harvest using this method while the image implanting technique shaves down...