The Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh

                                
   
The prospective construction of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge is going to be a momentous achievement in the history of independent Bangladesh. It will usher in a new era in the transport and communication system of Bangladesh. It will also serve as a milestone in the history of economic development of the country.
                                                                                    

Jamuna Bridge

                  A sound, well-developed transport and communication system plays a vital role in the socio-economic progress of a country. Unfortunately, the communication system of Bangladesh is still back-dated and undeveloped. In the way of development of our transport and communication system the mighty Jamuna stands as a great stumbling block. This river flowing through the middle of the country largely impedes the transport probabilities to develop harmoniously throughout the country. One of the largest rivers of Bangladesh, the Jamuna assumes a fearful aspect in the rainy season and it becomes very difficult to cross it then. In the dry season, again, it dries into small lake. Thus it has effectively bifurcated the country into two distinct parts giving rise to two economics, two markets on both sides of the river.

                          Under the circumstances, the question of constructing a multi-purpose bridge over the Jamuna has been under consideration for a long time. The idea originated during the tenure of office of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as President of Bangladesh. Subsequently in 1982, President Ershad declared in public the intension to construct a bridge over the Jamuna. Accordingly, a high-powered committee was formed headed by the President himself. Four or five ministers and the secretaries of the concerned Ministers were on the committee as members. The Multi-purpose Jamuna Bridge Authority also came into being and it was entrusted with the responsibility of studying the probability of, and implementing, its construction. At the same time, the question of constructing the Jamuna Bridge received top national priority.
                                                                                                     

The longest bridge in Bangladesh

                            If the Jamuna Bridge Project is implemented, an about 12km. long two-way road along with a railway bridge will be built. As a result, carrying of goods round the year between two parts of the country will be made quick and easy. By virtue of the bridge, natural gas and electricity will reach the north-western region of the country. Moreover, the multi-purpose bridge, when constructed, will substantially reduce transport fares including railway fare. It would pave the way for harmonious development of agriculture, industry, electricity, forest and natural wealth in both the regions. Above all, it would consolidate national integrity through close relations among different parts of the country.

              The feasibility of the construction of the Jamuna Bridge was studied in two phases. The first phase dealt with site selection and various other characteristics of the Bridge. The work of the first phase was completed in April 1986.The second phase has evaluated the preliminary engineering and economics sides of the project. Work on finalization of this phase is still going on.
                    After the completion of the evaluation of the feasibility studies in two phases, the construction work of the bridge was expected to start by the end of 1990. The probable expenditure for its construction was estimated at three thousand core taka. It was supposed to be completed by 1994. Some of the sources of fund are  the  World  Bank , Paris Consortium of the aid-giving countries and surcharges within the country. Meanwhile Levies have been imposed on fourteen different items like crossing by ferries, transport, railway tickets, fixed deposits etc. in order to raise a local fund.

                       It is a matter of regret that after the change of Government in Bangladesh in December, 1990, the Multi-purpose Jamuna Bridge Project was not only relegated to the background but its feasibility also was put into question. The main aid-giving agency the World Bank at first opined that the construction of the bridge would be unprofitable. After a great deal of procrastination the World Bank experts team had to reckon with the massive public support for the implementation of the project and to consent to approve and give aid to the project. With some significant alterations here and there in the project, an Action Program for its implementation has been finalized. As for the real progress of work, earth-work on both sides of the prospective bridge is nearing completion and massive work for the construction of the main bridge is going on in full swing. It is hoped that the prestigious project will be completed and put into operation by 1997.

                  The whole nation is looking forward to see the implementation of the multi-purpose Jamuna Bridge Project as early as possible. We want this for the steady and harmonious progress of the country and for achieving solidarity and integrity of the people on both sides of the jamuna. We all should come forward to continue our mite for the successful implementation of this historic project. 

Irrigation in Bangladesh

The farmers irrigate their field

                                                 

Irrigation is a blessing to agriculture of any country. It turns barren land into smiling crops fields. It is irrigation that can ensure timely water supply to land. Irrigation adds to agricultural prosperity and increases the yield per acre. It also makes possible to grow improved varieties of crops. Irrigation also leads to the growth of the meas of transport and communication and the flourishing of internal and external trade. In Bangladesh, the problem of irrigation is, however, regarded from a different angle of vision. Mr. R. G. Casey, at one time a Governor of Bengal, aptly said, “ East Bengal suffer, not from scarcity of water but from too much of it’ Thus the problem here is one of the flood control, checking erosion and removing water from the marshy lands. During the rainy season, devasting floods occur and destroy standing crops. These floods can be resisted if high embankments are constructed along the banks of the big rivers. Already the Gumti bund in Comilla, the Karnafuli bund and the Meghna bund, together with the coastal embankment along the Bay of Bengal in the southern districts- Khulna, Bakerganj, Noakhali and Chittagong, have been constructed. Secondly, in order to control floods, the beds of the existing rivers should be made deep enough and the still must be removed from the mouths of rivers. For this purpose dredging is essential.

Irrigation system

        For irrigation Bangladesh mainly depends on rains and rivers. But rain is full of whims that often affect us adversely. Heavy rainfall often causes floods. On the other hand, our winter is often rainless and very dry. So our farmers never get water in proper way for cultivation. Either they get more or they get less than they need. They are just left to the mercy of nature.                        

           Out ot 24 million acres of cultivable land in Bangladesh only 6 lac acres are irrigated by various traditional methods which are extremely back-dated, time-consuming and inadequate. In recent years emphasis on irrigation by power pumps has been laid. So far about 38000 power pumps have been introduced and near about 18 lakh acres of land are said to have been brought under irrigation by the method. Some farmers of our country are also using them. But they should use them on an extensive scale so that plentiful underground water may be utilized for irrigation in dry season. There are hundreds of tanks, canals and rivers in our country.

         It is estimated that 13 million acres additional land can be irrigated here by extensive drainage, construction of diversion works and canals and pumping of surplus water. Still Bangladesh has several irrigation schemes of which the Ganges-Kodak scheme is the most important. It irrigates over 50 lac acres of land in Kushtia, Jessore and Khulna districts. But in recent years the Farrakh problem has dealt a death blow to this major irrigation scheme of Bangladesh. The Teesta Barrage project also irrigates over 1 lakh acres of land in the districts of Dinajpur, Rangpur and Bogra. To know more about 'Eyesight of Bangladesh' 
  

Moonlit night in Bangladesh

The river scenery of moonlight night

                                                  

When there was darkness all around. God said ‘ let there be light’ and there was light. Man prefers light no darkness. He likes the sun which is the ultimate source of light and heat. But to him light is more pleasing than heat. What he wants is provided by the moon. That is to say, it gives him light without heat. So the moon is so dear to him. The gentle light of the moon is so balmy and refreshing that man has always tried to have a close relationship with the moon. Though modern science has conquered the moon and shaken off the age-old beliefs and notions about it, yet ton the children it is still their maternal uncle (chand mama). To the poets and the lovers it is still the queen of the heaven. All these show how men love and like the moon.

           A moonlit night presents various charms and beauties to all. It offers beautiful and enchanting sights. The moon shines in the azure sky. She looks like a large disc of dazzling silver. The sparkling stars twinkle around the moon. The sky looks like a large canopy over flooded with light. The moon bathes the whole earth with her balmy beams. Everything appears to be coated with silver. Rivers, canals and tanks seem to laugh in the splendid moonlight. The speaks of cloud shine in the silvery light of the moon. The trees and creepers look bright and sparkling. The moon blesses the clouds and they add to the beauty of the sky. The white tinge all around on the top of trees gives to one’s mind the touch of mystery of nature.

Beautiful scenery of moonlit night

                                                 

              A moonlit night has a tremendous influence on the life of men. It is difficult for children to keep indoors They make marry playing games in open fields. Imaginative people like the poets and the lovers feel an irresistible urge for going out and becoming one with nature. They feel a thrill of joy in their hearts. Elderly men and women also cannot keep indoors. They pass hours outside in gossips and story-telling. The enchanting moonlit night makes the sorrowing mother forget the intensity of her great loss and look around to see where her lost treasure might be. A moonlit night has no less influence on birds and beasts. Birds come out of their nests or burst out into occasional notes. They are so much delighted that they cannot sleep so long as the light continues. Beasts also come out of their folds, and run to and fro. The beauty of a moonlit night in Bangladesh is seen at its best advantages in the open. Bangladesh has a network of rivers and on a moonlit night rivers present impressive sights. The sight of numerous country boats with white sails bathed in the moonlight has hardly and parallel. It is a pleasant sight to see the play of moon beams on the river. The sight of the softly flowing waters tinged with the silvery rays, has peculiar beauty of its own. The sea on a moonlit night presents more impressive spectacles. A man standing on the sea-beach is carried away by its inexpressible beauty. If we look at fields and meadows on a moonlit night they give us the idea of a fairy land. Forests and hills appear clad in a blaze of glory when the soft light of the moon floods them.      

The Rainy Season in Bangladesh

Cloudy Sky

                                                 

There are six seasons in Bangladesh. The rainy season is one of them. ‘ Asharh and Shravana’ are the months of the rainy season.

But sometimes the season lasts from the middle of June to the middle of September. The south-west monsoon, a periodical wind, that blows over Bangladesh from the Bay of Bengal, brings in the rains. The heat of summer turns a large quantity of the sea water into vapor which mixes with the air above. When the monsoon breaks out in the months of May and June, this rain bearing wind is cooled by contact with the cooler currents of air and the vapor is condensed into cloud and this causes rain.

The rain water in arom's leaf.

       During this season the sky often remains clouded. Violent blasts of wind blow. This sun remains hidden behind the clouds and it rains in torrents. Sometimes rain continues for days together. Tanks and pools that dry up in winter and summer are all filled up again. Rivers gradually rise till they overflow their banks. Some places remain under water for the greater part of the season and appear to be vast sheets of water. Everywhere roads are covered with mud. In many villages one has to go about in boats. The landscape appears green. Dry leaves fall from the trees and new ones sprout forth in their place. The rains wash away the filth that accumulates on the surface of the earth and purity the whole atmosphere. They lessen the intense heat of summer and stimulate the growth of vegetation and crops. It is the time for gathering ‘ Aush ‘ crops and planting ‘Aman’ paddy. The joy of the tillers knows no bounds if there is sufficient rain in this season. They merrily proceed towards the fields with their bullocks and p loughs, and till them                          

                                            

  The rainy season undoubtedly does us immerse good. But it brings in some inconveniences too. The country roads get covered with mud and many of them turn impassable. Outdoor games and activities become difficult. Floods in rivers cause serious damage by washing away houses and destroying crops. Boats are the only means of communication in many parts of the country. Men have to sit idle and pass much of their time indoors. Moreover, many diseases such as Malaria, diarrhea and dysentery break out during this season. The rainy is the most important and useful season in our country, because ours is an agricultural country and it depends mainly on rain for agricultural operations. If there is no periodic rain there will be scarcity of food and that will result in famine. So the discomforts and inconveniences of this season sink into insignificance, when they are compared with the immense benefit it confers. This is the most useful season in an agricultural country like ours.  

Village Game of Bangladesh

Ha-Du-Du Game

                                               

All nations on earth have their own games and sports. They are as much a necessity of life as food and drink are. Bangladesh is a tropical country. So we should have games and sports suitable to our climate. Luckily, we have many such outdoor games and sports. Among them Ha-du-du, Dariabandha, Kanamachhi, Gollachhut, Danguli, Buddhimantra, six-guti, sixteen-guti, Lathi-play, boat racing etc. are worth mentioning.

                Ha-du-du is a very popular game in Bangladesh. For this game at first a field is selected with a line in the middle dividing the field into two halves. All the players are divided into two teams. One player of a team goes across the middle line into the area of the other team all the while uttering ‘ha-du-du’ or ‘du-du-du’ without taking any breath. His object is to touch a player of the other team while hw goes on uttering ‘du-du-du’ and to come back to his own area without being caught, held back or seized within the area of the other team by any of its members. The player so touched is called ‘dead’. The player who is caught or held back within the area of the other team is also’ dead’ or out. If all the player of one team are thus ‘dead’ and the other team has some of its player still ‘living’ the former party is said to be defeated and the latter party wins a point.

Village Game

                Dariabandha is another popular game of our villages. In this game a field is made under certain rules equally divided with lines equip-distant from each other. Players are equally divided into two teams. One team stands outside the field and each of the players of the other team stands on each line facing at least one opponent player. Players standing outside enter into the field one by one and try to pass across the field to the fishing to the finishing end. If any player of a team crosses the field from the starting point to the finishing point and vice-verse, the team concerned wins the game.                                            

                Kanamachhi is an interesting children’s game. A piece of cloth is tied over the eyes of a player. He cannot see through it. He is ‘blind’. Other players go round him and touch his head or his body and say ‘ Kanamachhi bho-bho’’ to him. He cannot see them but he catches somebody and says his name that players takes his place to play as ‘blind’

                Gollachhut is another popular game in our villages. It is played between two teams of equal number of players. A team takes stand at a fixed point on one side of the field. Players of the other team stand scattered on the field facing the team that has taken position with one ‘king’ at a fixed point. The players of the king’s team run as fast as they can to cross the field. If the team of the king can cross the field with the help of ‘ pucca’ players or if the king can cross the field untouched, his team wins the game.

                            

                   

Winter in Bangladesh

Trying to emerge the juice of date tree.

                                               

Winter is one of the six seasons in Bangladesh. It comes after the Late Autumn or Hemanta. Winter comprises the two Bengali months of ‘Paush’ and ‘Magh’. The days are short and the nights are long in this season. Bangladesh is a tropical country. So winter is generally mild in the plains and is far less severe than that in most European countries. The coldest period of the year in Bangladesh is the middle of January. Winter is the season of fogs and mists. So winter mornings are full of mists. Dew drops also fall at night. When the morning sun peeps through the mists, they look like glittering beads of pearl on grass and plants. The sky is cloudless and blue. Some of the trees become bare of leaves. The rays of the sun become very mild. Children and old men bask in the sun in the morning and in the afternoon. The cold of winter which is often attended with chilly northern wind makes the people shiver. Even the animals, worms and insects feel the pinch of cold. The poor suffer from cold greatly. The rich use their warm clothes and the poor burn dry leaves, hay and jute stalks to keep themselves warm.

        Winter is the season of abundance. So the price of essential commodities falls considerably. The people in general seem to heave a sigh of relief. A great variety of fish and vegetables are available in the market in plenty and they sell at a comparatively low price. The vegetables that are grown and supplied in plenty are radishes, brinjals, cabbages, caulk-flowers, tomatoes, potatoes and turnips. A special feature of the season is the collecting of juice from date trees and making molasses. ‘Gur and Patali’ prepared from date juice are delicacies with all. Fruits also become prolific and cheap in this season. The general health of the people remains in a satisfactory state in winter. The liver works well during this season. So people prepare different kinds of native cakes. The ‘Paush parban’ is a well-known Hindu festival for preparing and eating various kinds of cakes. The ‘payesh’ made of rice, date juce and milk constitutes a very delicious dish.

The fog in winter season

                                                

           Winter is suitable season for various activities in Bangladesh. It is the late harvesting season. The peasants are then busy with the last phase of gathering paddy from the fields and with separating the corns from the stalks. The new season of schools begin in winter. The students can read for a longer period at night. Festivals and functions are also held in this season. This is the time for the ‘ Saraswati Puja’ of the Hindus. In this season men can move about freely and safety, because snake and other vermin, sensitive to cold, take refuge in holes and crevices. Winter is also season of outdoor games and sports. Though winter is cold season, it is enjoyable in Bangladesh. In this season the majority of the people are more or less immune from the anxiety for food. So their minds are full of joviality and they feel very happy. In this season communication in Bangladesh is easy, for almost all the places of the country are then dry. After all, winter is the season that heralds the advent of spring.    

A Post Man in Bangladesh

The image of Bangladeshi postal system

                                              

The postman is to us the most eagerly awaited persons who brings news from our dear ones living in distant places. He with his ‘ Khaki’ dress and a turban on his head is a very familiar figure. Everyday at a particular time he is seen passing through the streets. Sometimes he walks wearily with a bag weighing heavy under his arms. Sometimes he looks energetic and trips lightly the long distance with a light bag and a light heart.

     Our hearts are full of expectations as soon as we see the familiar figure of the postman approaching our house. He comes to our houses to deliver letters, money orders, telegrams, parcels, etc. He plays an important part in our daily life. Sometimes he brings letters containing good news and sometimes he causes us sorrow and grief by delivering bad news. But we thank him for all that and he is always welcome to us. When we live far away from home we are anxious for the news of our relatives. Sometimes we are much more anxious for money from our parents and guardians. The postman comes to us with the postal money order and thus relieves us of our anxiety. He also brings us important books or other articles which are sent to us by postal parcels. Sometimes he fills our heart with joy by carrying to us valuable presents or gifts from friends and relatives who live far away from us.

       The postman has a various duties to perform. He daily duty begins in the post office. He sorts letters, parcels and makes separate bundles out of them for different localities of his beat. Then he goes out on his beat. Whenever he delivers money orders, parcels, registered letters, he takes signatures of the persons concerned and of witnesses. Those who are illiterate give their thumb impression. He realises postal dues from the addressees of bearing letters. All these mean heavy labor for him. Moreover, his daily round of duty covers a wide area, and he has to walk a long distance laboriously to finish his duty without complaint.

Post office

                                      

      The postman is an ill-paid Government employee. Yet he is responsible, punctual and dutiful. His figure in duties may cause great loss or harm to people. He is, therefore, required to be very prompt and punctual in his duty. Very strict rules have been laid down to regulate his conduct, and he is severely dealt with for any breach of discipline. In spite of all these, he is friendly with all in the rural areas and shares the joys and sorrows of the villagers. In urban areas, he is no less friendly but he keeps something of an official air and mixes with people with some reservations..