Farmers are allegedly paying Tk聽1,000 an acre for irrigation water supply from the Teesta Irrigation Project although the government has set the rate at Tk 480 an acre throughout the year.
The payment of additional money has led to frustration among farmers in the project area.
However, officials of the Bangladesh Water Development Board claimed that no additional money was being taken from farmers.
The payment for irrigation water is made through local farmers鈥� associations, they added.
BWDB officials said that about 1 lakh farmers had cultivated boro rice on 1,23,500 acres of land under the project across six districts 鈥� Rangpur, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Dinajpur, Joypurhat and Bogura.
Irrigation water is supplied through a 750-kilometre canal network from the project.
The government earns about Tk聽5.93 crore for supplying irrigation water to 1,23,500 acres of land at the rate of Tk聽480 an acre.
Farmers, however, alleged that the local farmers鈥� associations had collected Tk聽12.35 crore from them for irrigation water supply to 1,23,000 acres at the rate of Tk聽1,000 an acre.
While leaders of the farmers鈥� associations paid the government Tk聽5,92,80,000 in charges for irrigation water supply, the additional Tk聽6,42,29,000 remains unaccounted for, the farmers alleged.
Rashidul Islam, a 65-year-old farmer from Nilphamari鈥檚 Dimla upazila, said that he had been growing crops using irrigation water from the project for the past 30 years.
鈥業 had to pay Tk聽1,000 to receive irrigation water for one acre of land despite the government-set rate being Tk聽480 an acre. I don鈥檛 know where the extra Tk聽520 went. I paid Tk聽1,000 through the local association. However, they did not give me any receipt against the payment,鈥� he said.
Abdur Rahim, a 70-year-old farmer from the same area, alleged that the extra money was shared between the association leaders and BWDB officials.
Abdus Samad, gatekeeper at the Teesta Irrigation Project and president of the farmers鈥� association at Dimla village, said that farmers paid charges for irrigation water through the association.
He said that the association employed workers to clean and monitor the canals in the irrigation area that was why farmers were charged additional money.
鈥楢fter paying the government rate, the extra money is spent on the welfare of the association members,鈥� he claimed.
The Teesta Barrage Irrigation Project, situated on the River Teesta in the Doani area of Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat, is the country鈥檚 largest irrigation project.
There are 78 farmers鈥� associations in the project area, each with a gatekeeper to assist farmers in supplying water to their land.
Amolesh Chandra Roy, sub-extension officer of the BWDB in Rangpur, said that it was not possible for the BWDB to monitor such a large area without forming farmer associations.
He said that the association leaders must pay the irrigation fee on time.
鈥業 have not heard of taking any extra charges, and no farmer has complained in this regard,鈥� he added.
Amitav Chowdhury, BWDB executive engineer at Dalia in Lalmonirhat, said that he was not aware of any information regarding farmers being charged extra money.
He also said that he would investigate the matter and take necessary actions in this regard.
