Once the lifelines of Feni’s landscape, at least 244 rivers and canals sprawling across its six upazilas are now fighting for survival.

Choked by years of encroachment and pollution, these natural arteries are vanishing fast, and with them, the district’s resilience against waterlogging.

Come monsoon, the roads of Feni town mirror shallow rivers, turning daily life into a struggle.

The seamless network of streams that once spirited away rainwater has either been blocked or erased from the map altogether. Now, even a fleeting spell of rain is enough to inundate streets, immersing neighbourhoods in knee-deep water.

According to sources at the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), 56 canals in Sonagazi, 52 in Dagonbhuiyan, 39 in Sadar, four in Parshuram, three in Chhagalnaiya and a staggering 90 in Fulgazi have been critically harmed due to unbridled encroachment and unchecked pollution.

As these canals have gradually filled with silt and solid waste, they have lost both their navigability and purpose.

When monsoon waters rush in — compounded by runoff from Indian upstream flows — the district’s compromised drainage system succumbs, leaving behind destruction in its wake. Homes, crops, fisheries and livestock endure damage year after year, an ever-recurring tragedy rooted in neglect.

Despite periodic initiatives, neither the BWDB nor municipal authorities have managed to reclaim these lifelines. Legal tangles and administrative inaction continue to obstruct restoration efforts.

A walk through the town paints a grim picture.

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The once-proud Paglichhara, the PTI canal, and Khwaja Ahmed Lake now bear the marks of abuse — clogged with discarded polythene, plastic bottles and food wrappers. These water bodies have become stagnant pools of filth, spreading foul odours and breeding mosquitoes, much to the misery of residents.

The damage, however, is not recent. From 2011 to 2021, several markets sprouted over canal routes, encroaching on parts of Khwaja Ahmed Lake, Paglichhara canal and the PTI canal near Jail Road.

What were once thriving water channels have either vanished or become so constricted they can no longer serve their intended function.

The Domdoma canal, for instance — where boats once docked at Daudpur during the famed Ras Mela festival — is now on the brink of extinction. Once an artery of commerce and festivity, it stands as a painful symbol of what has been lost.

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In Daganbhuiyan, the Datta canal near Rajapur market tells a similar tale — gradually fading into oblivion through neglect and pollution.

Meanwhile, the once-spacious Dadna canal, a 19-kilometre waterway originally 65 feet wide, has shrunk to just 10–15 feet in certain areas. Local power brokers and political influences are blamed for occupying its banks with impunity.

Sonagazi’s Dangi canal has met a more ignoble fate — reduced to a mere drain, its course strangled by unauthorised structures.

Shariful Islam Russell, a resident of Feni town, bemoaned the growing menace. “Traders dump waste into the Daudpur and Paglichhara canals, stopping water flow and spreading pollution. Even a little rain now floods the low-lying Academy area.”

Veteran journalist and freedom fighter Abu Taher reflected on the long arc of destruction. “The encroachment of canals has been happening over the last 30 to 40 years. Some canals exist only on paper. Last year’s flood has shown us the price of destroying natural water channels.”

In the face of this crisis, BWDB Executive Engineer Md Akhtar Hossain Majumder reported that about 400 kilometres of the district’s 719 kilometres of rivers and canals were dredged in the past five years.

He stressed the need for more funding to continue the work and relieve the district from the grip of waterlogging. He, however, clarified that restoring canals within urban limits is the duty of respective local authorities.

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Feni Municipal Administrator Golam Md Baten acknowledged the severity of the problem. “Waste removal efforts are underway, and residents are expected to get some relief from waterlogging during the next monsoon. Illegal encroachments are difficult to tackle, but once water drainage systems are restored, eviction of illegal structures will be addressed gradually.”

Yet, administrative efforts alone may not suffice.

Shawkat Ara Koli, Deputy Director of the Department of Environment (DoE) in Feni, pointed to an equally crucial issue — public indifference.

“People continue to throw polythene and plastic waste into canals. But conserving and cleaning them is primarily the municipality’s responsibility, not the Department of Environment’s,” she noted.

As Feni teeters on the brink of a water crisis, the warnings are clear — restore these water bodies or face a future drowned in our own apathy.