Rivers of Bangladesh

Rivers of Bangladesh.

Introduction: Bangladesh is a land of rivers. It is crises-crossed by hundreds of rivers and canals. They are the vital life-lines of our national economy.

The rivers of Bangladesh are blessings of nature. They are the greatest source of wealth. The economy of Bangladesh is connected with her river system. As Bangladesh is an agricultural country, her agricultural prosperity largely depends on the rivers. These rivers have made her soil fertile by providing silt during flood. The rivers play a great role in transportation system. Boats, launch, steamers, and ferries carry goods and passengers and keep contributions to transportation.

Rivers have great contribution to trade and business. Most of the big cities of our country are on the bank of the rivers. Many important river ports have been constructed on the bank of the rivers. Our capital city Dhaka stands on the Burigonga. Many mills and factories are also on the rivers and the products can easily be transported to various places and markets through the rivers.

Main rivers: our big rivers are; the Padma, the Meghan, the Jamuna and the Brahmaputra. We have also a good number of small rivers spread like nets throughout the country. The contributions of reveres are too many to be described in words.

Silt: our agro-based economy is closely related to our rivers system. Our rivers carry silt with water and make our soil alluvial. Alluvial soil helps better production of crops.

Irrigation: our country is watered by these rivers. They help grow bumper crops in our country. They go a long way to help us solve the problem like, “Agriculture in Bangladesh is a gamble in monsoons.”

Channels of communication: our rivers are important channels of communication. Boats, launches, steamers, ferries and other watercraft ply through them throughout the year. More than seventy percent of our transport is done through rivers.

Trade and commerce: our rivers supply us with a great variety of fishes all the year round. They provide living for more than half a million of people in fishing. We export fish and earn a lot of foreign exchange every year. It greatly helps to enhance the economic development of our country.

Source of energy: our rivers are also a great source of energy. We can produce hydro-electricity by building up dams on the rivers having a strong current. The Karnafuli hydro-electric project at captain is a glaring example of the fact.

Source of literary materials: our rivers are not only a source of wealth and beauty but also a source of different materials for our literary works. They provide our poets and writers with a great variety of scenic materials are greatly inspired and influenced by the beauties and bounties of our river wealth.

Source of beauty: Bangladesh is rightly called the darling child of nature. Our rivers lend greatly to the enhancement of the beauty of our country. We all enjoy their sights, sounds, colors and beauty on various time and occasions. We enjoy their melodious murmuring sounds, their panoramic view with the setting sun, their-eye-catching sights of boats playing with the sweet songs of the boatmen and the like. All these sounds, colors and beauty cast a magic spell on our minds and give us immense joy and pleasure.

Evils: There is nothing on earth which is an unmixed blessing. Rivers are not also an unmixed blessing. They sometimes overflow their banks and cause heavy damage to lives and properties. They more than often lay waste the embankments built on their banks and make people landless, homeless and waterless. The saline water of floods enters the interior areas and damages the standing crops of hundreds and thousands of acres of land. The people living in the interior areas suffer a lot for want of sweet water.

Sometimes they cause serious floods which damage agricultural crops, wash away houses, cattle and properties. Sometimes, launches sink into the rivers and many passengers die unfortunately. Apart from these, rivers are blessings for us.

To quote the poet,

“Water, water, everywhere. But not drop to drink.”

Conclusion: thus we find our rivers are one of the greatest natural blessings of our country. We cannot think of our agro-based economy without the existence of our river-wealth.