Solar scheme lying inoperative for three years in Sylhet village

Farming of Boro paddy and others on a hundred acres of land has become uncertain due to cracks developed in the buried pipes of an irrigation project in Biswanath upazila in Sylhet district.

Since after the opening, the project gave almost no benefit to the farmers due to cracks in its underground water supply line, causing much suffering to the farmers, locals alleged.

Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) established the scheme years ago for bringing new arable lands under farming through irrigation.

The farmers demanded immediate repair or replacement of the underground plastic pipes to make the irrigation scheme functional before the next irrigation season for Boro farming.

However, an official at the DAE said the solar panel-driven scheme was established four years ago for providing irrigation facilities for the farmers of villages like Satpur, Atapur, Sangirai, Keshobpur Bidyapoti, etc on the riverbank. Although the farmers got irrigation facilities in the first year, the system went inoperative the following year due to the cracked pipes, set underground, locals alleged.

Now the farmers can't use the facility or use traditional irrigation, which they used to manage on their own before the establishment of the solar scheme. This is why irrigation is suspended for the last three years, causing much to the farmers.

Farmer Ekhlasur Rahman of Keshobpur said the authorities ignored the demand for repair of the system from the very beginning even on repeated appeals during the last three years. Meanwhile, some spare parts of the solar panel and others had been stolen, he added.

An official at the DAE said the farmers were not properly trained at the beginning to run the solar system and irrigation. He, however, claimed the higher authorities had been informed of the situation and they hoped it would be repaired when required funds were available.

[email protected]