Protecting the beel and its network of waterbodies is vital

Imagine vast, shimmering water reflecting a clear blue sky. Boats glide across the surface, carrying villagers through a network of rivers and canals teeming with life. Schools of fish, like silver flashes, dart beneath the water.

Paddy farmers in the Chalan Beel region of Rajshahi, Pabna, Sirajganj and Natore are concerned about whether they can achieve their expected yields this year as early floods have badly damaged their crops in the vast wetland.

The rivers of Bangladesh flow across it like blood across veins, breathing life into its vast territories. It is this wetland ecosystem that fills our lush green country with several amazing haors. Among the many wetlands, haors are mostly located within Brahmanbaria, Habiganj, Sunamganj, Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Moulovibazar, and Sylhet.

Two more bodies were recovered from Chalanbeel yesterday after a tourist boat carrying 22 visitors capsized in the water body under Chatmohar upazila on Friday.

The joy of visiting Chalanbeel turned into a tragedy as three people drowned and two others went missing in a tourist boat capsize in Chatmohar upazila on Friday.

Five people go missing after a boat capsize in Pabna’s Chalan Beel area.

Bodies of a man and his two children are recovered from Chalan Beel in Tarash upazila of Sirajganj.

A Rajshahi University student dies after being electrocuted and two others are injured while travelling by a boat in Chalan Beel area of Natore.