G3: Water Governance and Community Based Management Ganges Basin Development Challenge

Situation Analysis
LGED Bag Anchra-Badurgacha subproject, Dumuria Upazila, Khulna

Report from

Camelia Dewan and Mahanambrota Das

Merged report by Marie-Charlotte Buisson October 2012

Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 4
1.1. Aim of the report .....................................................................................................................4 1.2. Methodology ...........................................................................................................................4 1.3. Overview of Polder Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha Area ..................................................................... 8 1.3.1. Location and accessibility............................................................................................................ 8 1.3.2. Demographic features ................................................................................................................ 9 1.3.3. Basic Facilities Access ................................................................................................................ 11 1.3.4. History of the Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha sub-project and Physical Interventions .................... 11

2.

FARMING SYSTEMS AND LIVELIHOODS ............................................................ 13

1.1. Productivity after polder ................................................................................................... 13 1.2. Current Agricultural Cropping Pattern.............................................................................. 14 1.2.1. Paddy: Only Aman paddy and no Rabi crops ....................................................................... 14 1.2.2. Fish: Declining over time ..................................................................................................... 15 1.2.3. Shrimp: Predominant cultivation choice ............................................................................... 15

3.

LIVELIHOODS .......................................................................................................... 16
3.1. Food security and Salinity: Effects on livestock and vegetation......................................... 16 3.2. Employment opportunities ............................................................................................... 16 3.2.1. Labour Contracting Societies ................................................................................................ 17 3.3. Drinking water situation ................................................................................................... 18

4.

CONDITION OF THE PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE ....................................... 19

4.1. Condition of the Embankment ......................................................................................... 19 4.1.1. River erosion ........................................................................................................................ 20 4.1.2. Pipes .................................................................................................................................... 20 4.1.3. Emergency responses ........................................................................................................... 20 4.2. Condition of the Sluice gates ............................................................................................ 21 4.3. Condition of the Canals and Rivers ................................................................................... 22 4.3.1. Siltation ............................................................................................................................... 22 4.3.2. Private control over canals ................................................................................................. 23

5. 6.

OPERATION OF SLUICE GATES ............................................................................ 23 MAINTENANCE OF PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .......................................... 24

6.1. Construction and Rehabilitation 1997-2001........................................................................ 24 6.2. Handover agreement and responsibilities ......................................................................... 25 6.2.1. Continued linkages with LGED staff ................................................................................... 25 6.2.2. Annual supervision and O&M Plan ...................................................................................... 26 6.2.3. Continuation of project and funding .................................................................................... 26 6.3. Cost-sharing ..................................................................................................................... 27 6.4. Role of Union Parishad in Maintenance ........................................................................... 27 6.5. Main issues of Maintenance ............................................................................................. 28 2

7.

SWRDSP: PROJECT PROCESS AND RESULTS ...................................................... 29

7.1. 7.2. 7.3. 7.4. 7.5. 7.6. WMCA formation: Election and Selection ........................................................................ 29 Sub-committees................................................................................................................ 29 Training ........................................................................................................................... 30 WMCA Input in Project Design ........................................................................................ 30 WMCA as a cooperative: Membership fees and Leasing ................................................... 31 Activeness and Perception of WMCA post project ............................................................ 32 Conflicts regarding the control of canals ........................................................................... 33 Conflicts regarding shrimp and salinity intrusion ............................................................. 33 Conflict regarding Representativeness and Voice in the WMCA ....................................... 34

8.

CONFLICTS ............................................................................................................... 33
8.1. 8.2. 8.3.

9.

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 36
Government Agencies.................................................................................................................. 38 Local Government Engineering Department ....................................................................................... 38 Union Parishad .................................................................................................................................... 38 Extension agencies...................................................................................................................... 39 Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) ...................................................................................... 39 Department of Fisheries (DoF) ............................................................................................................ 39 Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) ............................................................................. 39 NGOs.......................................................................................................................................... 39

ANNEX 1: INSTITUTIONS IN WATER GOVERNANCE ............................................. 38

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Aim of the report
This report aspires to generate a detailed situation analysis report of Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha sub-project in Dumuria sub-district of Khulna district based on Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and Key Informant Interviews (KII). It will do so by providing: i) A historical narrative of the polder from the time it was constructed to present; ii) Farming systems and livelihoods options; iii) Current state of the polder infrastructure; iv) Examining the results and process of the water management interventions of the LGED v) Reviewing how maintenance of water management infrastructure takes place; vi) Reviewing how operation of sluice gates take place; and vii) Discussing main conflicts. It will then conclude by discussing the main findings and implementable policy recommendations that came from the respondents for improving water management in the Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha sub-project.

1.2. Methodology
Four Focus Group Discussions and seven Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were conducted by the Shushilan research team from 20th March to 24th March, 2012. The FGDs were held in two villages of Sobhana Union. The venue of the FGDs were selected based on IWM map, transect walk and consultation with the local people by considering various part of the union, distance from main rivers and sluice gates, the situation of the rivers, canals, gates and concentration of various types of farming in particular shrimp farming, paddy cultivation with or without aquaculture. The KIIs were selected through snowball and opportunity process. The KIIs with farmers, women headed households, woman LCS representative were held at their village home and the KIIs with UP and LGED officials were held at the respective offices in the UP and Sub-district headquarters. The map below describes where the FGDs have been conducted.

Figure 1 -

Location of the FGD

A glance look of the FGD venues and participants reveals the following: One of the four FGD groups was general FGD group and met at Badurgacha village (South-west part of the union), on the bank of Teleghati River, concentration of canals like Badur gacha, bisu katakhali, dakatia, daiany, simanar, risikar, vetkimary & sela bania etc, silted canals, concentration of gher and unauthorized cuts. One brand sluice gates and pipe inlets, but the condition of the gates was not good. The shutter of the gate was broken. In the FGD group, thirteen participants including farmers, businessmen, salaried profession, students, teacher and village doctor were present. Two of the farmers owned land 1 to 4 acres. All of the respondents were Sanaton Hindu, age varied from 25 to 55 years. All of the respondents were the member of WMCA. The second FGD group was held with LCS male at near East Badurgacha, situated by the west side of the polder by the side of the Ghanrail River. Land comparatively high, no gate, un-authorized cuts, dead canals, high concentration of crops farming. Seven of the participants out of ten were day labours, two were involved with agriculture with day labouring and one was engaged with patty shopkeepers and day labour. All of the participants were male and Sanatan Hindu and aged between 25 to 40 years. All of them were member of WMCA. The third FGD group was held with LCS female at near Badurgacha, situated by the East side of the polder by the side of the Ghanrail River. River erosion, silted canals, aquaculture, high concentration of shrimp, paddy and shrimp farming, one brand sluice gate. Ten of the participants out of eleven were involved with agriculture, gher and day labours and one was completely day labour. All of the participants were male and Sanatan Hindu except one and aged between 25 to 45 years. Seven of them were involved different NGOs activities or cooperatives. Three of them were involved with WMCA. The last FGD group met with eight WMCA EC members, in the West side and middle part of the polder. All of the had own land varying from 1.0 to 5.0 acres. Three out of eight participants were farmers, two were businessmen and there were housewife. Age of the respondents varied from 30 to 70 years and almost all of them were Sanatan Hindu except one. The list of FGD and KII is provided in Table 1 and 2. FGD Type Numbers of Participants (Female) 13 Male no female 10 Male 11 Female 9 Male 2 Female Village (para) Union Parishad Relevant Sluice Gate Numbers 1&2 Adjoining Canals

General

Badurgacha

Shobhana

LCS Male LCS Female WMC

East Badurgacha Badurgacha Bagh Anchra

Shobhana Shobhana Shobhana

1 1 1&2

Telgoti & ghanrail river. Badur gacha, bisu kata khali, dakatia, daiany, simanar, risikar, vetkimary & sela bania canal. Ghanrail river. Telgoti river. Naptir khal Ghanrail river. Vakotmari khal, Kudaler khal, Chelabuner Khal, Boroitolar khal, Budorkhal silted up. simanar, risikar & Naptir khal existing

Table 1 -

List of FGDs conducted in polder Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha

Respondent Type Dijendro Lal Sardar, President WMA Sardar Abdul Gani, Chairman, Shobhana Tarak Chandra Mondol, Member_Ward No 9 Ritika Rani, female member_ward 7,8,9 Tulshi Rani Mondol, Women headed Sujit Sardar, Mixed farmer (Bagda) Rabindra Nath Mondol, Paddy farmer
Table 2 -

Village/ Venue WMA Office UP office Madartola Bazar House of member Bagachara Bagchara Bagchar

Date 24/03/2012 24/03/2012 24/03/2012 24/03/2012 24/03/2012 24/03/2012 24/03/2012

List of KII conducted in Jsabishabeel Sub Project Polder

Figure 2 -

Location of the FGD

1.3. Overview of Polder Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha Area 1.3.1. Location and accessibility Location The polder Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha FCD sub-project of LGED is located in Sobhana Union Parishad of Dumuria Upazila in Khulna district. The area is located between two existing BWDB coastal embankment Polders (17 and 26) and it is surrounded by Ghangail and Telighati Rivers. The CARE road bounds the subproject to the southwest. The polder area is surrounded by the Rivers Telighati and Ghangail. Telighati River flows by the East side of the polder and Ganghail in the north, west and South side. Within this boundary, there are two mouzas no 64 and 78. However people of 2 villages around its own land inside of the polder. The surrounding villages are: Badurgacha and Bagh Anchra. This polder is 40 km south-west of Khulan city and only about 10 kms South of Dumuria Upazila town by existing road link. Geographical characteristics The polder covers the total area 375 hectors. The Telighati River is navigable round the year but current is being slow. The Ganghail River is silted and is about to dead. The land profile of the polder is saucer shaped. The land along the riverbanks is slightly higher elevated than the land in the centre of the polder and along the inner canals. The land is relatively low-lying in the middle adjoining. The west part of the polder is comparatively high elevated compare to other side. The polder area is just one beel and comprises two villages. It looks like a small island surrounded by the river Ganghail in the north and east, the River Telighati is in the East and South. These two rivers inter-connected to the South-East and North-East. River Ghengrail is however still flowing but about to dead. The whole polder area is a low lying beel (wetland) affected by tidal surge in cyclone Aila 2009. The polder also affected by salinity. Total area of the polder is about 350 hectors (WMCA) including agriculture, aquaculture. The construction of this polder started in 2000 and finished in 2008. During project period, three canals and 2 regulators were constructed to manage water for agriculture practices and save lives (WMCA). The east side of the polder is very vulnerable due to river erosion of the Telighati River. There are only There are many pipe inlets to draw water from the Rivers Telighati and Gangharil. Pipe inlets uses for both purposes (Agriculture and shrimp culture). The farmers who have high elevated land by the side of the embankment, they use pipe inlets for crop farming or shrimp culturing. Accessibility The polder Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha is situated in the South-west side of the Dumuria Upazila and connected to Upazila road via Bagh Anchra bazaar. Dumuria Upazila is located in the nearest of the polder and distance from Upazila town about 10 km. Different types of motorbikes and vans are available in the road. Motorized boats, launch and trawlers also seen in the River Telighati. Country boat and launch are also seen as a local and inter-district waterway transport. Launch is also available via Dumuria to Dhaka and time is required 8 to 10 hours. Beside motorbike service in the local roads, another type of transport now expanding is diesel operated three wheeler van. Another mode of transport recently introduced but not huge is battery operated three wheeler auto-rickshaw, called easy bike. In the Payra river, the main transport is mechanised boat that has almost entirely replaced both country boat and motor launch.

1.3.2. Demographic features Table 3 below provides demographic data of Sobhana Union of polder Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha as compared to Upazila Dumuria. The Union Sobhana is there considered to represent the polder for demographic and other information and the study was concentrated in this Union. Total population of the polder Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha (Sobhana UP) is 1299 while comprising households 315 and household size 4.1. Household size is comparatively little bit below. Difference between male and female population is very low. Compare to 10% Hindu minority of the country, 84.8% are Santan Hindu in this polder. Literacy rate is 58% but better than Dumuria Upazila and less than national status. In this polder, male literacy rate is higher than female. Sovana UP 19.46 4806 19708 1013 4.1 9783 9925 99 45.9 54.1 0.0 52.7 58.4 47.0
Table 3 -

Badurgacha 187 766 4.1 375 391 96 0.5 99.5 0 59.6 67.6 51.8

Area (Sq km) Household Poppulation Total Density Household Size Male Population Female Population Sex Ratio Religion Muslim % Hindu % Christian and others % Literacy All Literacy M Literacy F

Bagh Anchra 128 533 4.2 268 265 101 36.2 63.8 0 56.4 65.0 47.9

Polder Total 350 hectares 315 1299 4.1 643 656 98 15.2 84.8 0 58.0 66.3 49.9

Dumuria Upazila 454.43 71909 305675 673 4.3 153111 152564 100 61.7 38.1 0.2 52.6 57.4 47.7

Source: BBS, Population Census 2011, Community Series for Khulna District

Area and Population

Population age 7+ not in school Male Female Employed Male Employed Female % employed Male % employed Female % Looking for Job Male % Looking for Job Female % in household work Male % in household work Female % not working Male % not working Female
Table 4 -

Sovana UP 4,649 1,848 2,801 1,565 148 84.7 5.3 0.1 0.1 0.7 74.8 14.4 19.8

Badurgacha 125 28 97 21 0 75.0 0.0 0 0 0 80.4 25.0 19.6

Bagh Anchra 79 29 50 23 1 79.3 2.0 0 0 0 82.0 20.7 16.0

Polder Total 204 57 147 44 1 77.2 1.0 0 0 0 81.2 22.9 17.8

Dumuria Upazila 76,918 31,608 45,310 26,592 2,601 84.1 5.7 0.3 0.2 1.0 75.3 14.5 18.8

Source: BBS, Population Census 2011, Community Series for Khulna District

Employment Status of Polder Area People (age 7+ not in school)

Table 4 above shows employment status of male and female population of age 7 and above not attending school. In Union Sobhana, 84.7 % of the males (of age 7+ not attending school) are employed in various income earning activities and 0.1 % are represented not working. And in this polder Of the female of 7+ age group (not attending school), 1.0% are reported to be working in various economic activities, 81.2 % reported to be engaged in household chores only and about 17.8 % non working. The data should however be read with caution that age 7+ not in school, is not a good definition of labor force. Sobhana UP 100.0 Badurgacha 100.0 0 0 0 0 0 Bagachra 95.7 100.0 0 4.3 0 0.0 Polder Total 97.9 50 0 2.2 0 0 Dumuria Upazila 80.2 58.6 5.9 16.1 13.9 25.3

Agriculture % of male worker Agriculture % of female worker Industry % of male worker Industry % of female worker Services % of male worker Services % of female worker
Table 5 -

100.0

Source: BBS, Population Census 2011, Community Series for Khulna District

Employment of Working Population by Broad Sectors

Table 5 below shows distribution of male and female working population by broad economic sectors. In Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha sub-project, about 98% of the male workers are engaged in the agriculture sector and there is no worker in industry and service sectors. Besides, of the female workers, about 50 % are engaged in the agriculture sector and only 2.2 % in industry sector. Many of women workers employed in the agriculture sector reflects that women are engaged both paddy and shrimp ghers etc. 10

1.3.3. Basic Facilities Access Table 6 below shows that nearly 100% people of the polder have access to safe drinking water and the main source is deep tube well. And it is better than Sobhana UP and Dumuria Upazila. UP has provided 60 tubewells through government funded project (FGD-general). Fresh drinking water is found at depth 600 to 1000 feet or even deeper. Sobhana UP 38.8 39.2 13.2 8.9 99.8 35.7 Badurgacha 43.0 37.1 4.8 15.1 100 22.6 Bagh Anchra 10.9 81.3 7.0 0.8 100.0 18.0 Polder Total 26.95 59.2 5.9 7.95 100 20.3 Dumuria Upazila 50.4 31.4 13.6 4.70 99.2 58.6

Sanitary Toilet water sealed % Sanitary not water sealed % Non sanitary% No latrine % water source:L TW/Tape % Electicity Connected %
Table 6 -

Source: BBS, Population Census 2011, Community Series for Khulna District

Availability of or Access to Basic Facilities

In polder about 26.95 % households have water sealed latrines and about 59.2% have ring-slab latrine (sanitary but not water sealed). About 6% use non sanitary latrine and about 8% do not have latrine. Situation of water and sanitation is not good compare to Sobhana UP and Dumuria Upazila. Only one fifth (20.3%) of the households of this polder have access to electricity (Solar panel). Access to basic facilities vary among Sobhana UP, Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha polder and Dumuria Upazila. 1.3.4. History of the Bagh Anchra-Badurgacha sub-project and Physical Interventions History of polder development FGDs and KIIs participants views varied regarding building time of the embankment and construction time of the sluice gates. Almost all participants viewed that the embankment and two sluice gates constructed during 1990s or 1998. But actual construction period was 2000 to 2008. LGED started this sub-project in 2000 and completed its works in 2008. One view is that, after constructing embankment polder area was better protected from tidal surge, flooding and salinity intrusion. This resulted to higher crop yield, fruits and vegetables production, aquaculture and increased livestock rearing. Before construction of polder livelihood of the people was harder. Now both agriculture and aquaculture are continuing. Developed roads and communications and mobility of the people increased. Previously people were involved only agriculture (one crop-local Aman paddy) or giving lease to gher owners. Now people also interested in agriculture, aquaculture, service, business and education. Another one said that grasses do not grow due to salinity and livestock rearing is hard in this situation (FGD-WMCA). Most of the participants view that two sluice gates are not enough to manage water. High elevated land owners comparatively get less water, so they install pipe inlets into the embankment. They do it for crop cultivation or shrimp culture. These pipe inlets are made the embankment weak. Before construction of the polder, outsider domination was acute for shrimp farming and most of the land owners used to give lease the land. 11

The community people also provided interesting story about construction of this polder. Before construction of this polder, the community people who were riches made small dyke/earthen wall locally called Austomashi Badh to protect the land for agriculture practices. They did it from June July (Ashar Shravan). The wetland area was encircled by low dykes constructed every year in Ashar Shravan (June July) before planting Aman paddy. The dykes were repaired as per need up to the harvest of Aman paddy in December January. After Aman harvest it was left to nature and the dykes got damaged. During the four months water from the river entered the beel area during high tide and drained out in low tide. Grass, weeds and matmaking leaves grew abundantly. Cattle and buffaloes grazed and fish grew naturally. But those were marginal farmers and had no capacity to made dyke, they lease the land to outsiders. Then outsiders made dyke and cultivate crops or cultured ghers. Actually, this culture continued up to 2000. In the past, local people asked many times to local elites and political leaders to construct the embankment. But it was not work. They made small dyke for eight months to protect their agriculture land. Local people guarded the dyke at night under a village leader/aged man (locally called Sana) to protect the dyke from flood. But many times, they failed to protect it. The tidal flooding of this tiny island had increased after the construction in the mid-1960s of the BWDB polder embankment along the Ghangrail River on the southwest and Telighati River on the north and northeast. Local people also went to Water Development Board locally call WAPDA, political leaders and officials, but failed. Suddenly, one officer of LGED informed them that LGED wanted to construct an embankment in this area. The major problems identified by LGED was (i) flooding by tidal saline water intrusion damaging and reducing yield of paddy and high-yielding variety; (ii); that the river is higher than the subproject land during high tide in the monsoon and damages crops and homesteads. By the suggestion of that officer, people made groups, collected money from the local people, saved money, built WMCA, LCS, opened bank account etc. Finally, LGED started to work of the embankment with full support of the local people. LGED took initiative to construct embankment in 2000 and implementation period was 2000-2008. The embankment contributed to better protecting crops. Aman yield increased. Also, cultivation of chili, vegetables, brinjal and fruits increased. But, in 2009, during cyclone Aila, embankment broke at several places and sluice gates partially damaged and broke. Community and the LGED repaired embankment but not adequately. Besides, presently, river erosion of Telighati River affected the East side of the embankment which needed repairing immediately.

12

2. FARMING SYSTEMS AND LIVELIHOODS

1.1. Productivity after polder
1998
Kharif-2/Aman (Monsoon) HYV T Aman Vegetables LT Aman

2001 647.9

2002 649.9

2003 551.3

2004 503.9

351.4

420.1

474.9

586.1

504.7

Rabi/Boro (Winter)

HYV Boro Wheat Mustard Local Boro Potato Vegetables Pulse Spices Sugercane

3.9

0.8

1.7

0.7

1.7

2.1 44.5

96.8

11.9 22.2

118.6 86.5

Table 7 -

Agricultural Productivity in production (mT) 1997-2006 (Source: LGED, 2008)

Prior to the construction of the LGED embankment, this area was regularly submerged during tides and unsuitable for settlement. After independence, in 1972-73, the local people of the area would lease their lands to outsiders, people from Kaliganj in Satkhira district. The outsiders would produce crops and cultivate fish. The local people of the area were very poor and unable to produce crops due to saline water and lack of protection of earthen wall/embankment. According to the WMCA, there were many families that could not sustain themselves prior to the embankment and therefore sold their land and migrated. For those that remained in the polder, leasing out ones land was increasingly seen as unprofitable. The lease takers would use the land for lucrative shrimp cultivation, while the landowner would only be able to cultivate paddy. After the construction of the embankment in 1998, the local people decided that they would cultivate shrimp on their land themselves rather than to lease it out. The Union Parishad Chairman thus stated that the only shift in influence through the embankment was a shift from outside gher owners to local gher owners. There are contradicting views on the effects and improvements of the polder. Gher owners mention that agricultural production has increased along with employment opportunities (Gherowner, 6 acre, Bagchra). Table 1 indicates that Aman production did increase in the first few years and has since been declining. The statistics are from LGED and does not include similar information for shrimp cultivation. There are competing perspectives to whether or not productivity was higher or lower prior to the embankment. Prior to 13

the embankment the area would be fully inundated and nothing could grow due to the salinity of the water (large gher owners). However, without the embankment the monsoon would flush out salinity from the fields and current around the year shrimp cultivation does not allow for flushing out of saline water (LCS male).

1.2.

Current Agricultural Cropping Pattern

Boishak (Apr/ May) Joishtho (MayJun) Asharh (Jun-Jul) Srabon (JulAug) Bhadro (AugSep) Ashshin (SepOct) Kartik (OctNov) Agrohaeon (Nov-Dec) Poush (DecJan) Magh (JanFeb) Falgun (FebMar) Choitro (MarApr)

Aman paddy

Bagda

Bagchra East Badurgacha West Badurgacha Bagchra East Badurgacha West Badurgacha Table 8 - Cropping pattern Bagda and Paddy

In general, when asked about what they cultivate and when, a majority of respondents stated that they cultivate Aman paddy during Kharif II and Bagda during the dry season from February to June. Yet throughout the conversations with different respondents, when discussing conflicts in particular there also seems to be around the year shrimp cultivation (need to check) that disrupts Aman cultivation. The above table illustrated the range of responses. East Badurgacha and Bagachra villages claimed to cultivate paddy from end of Asharh to the end of Poush, a total of 6-7 months. West Badurgacha commences Aman at the end of Bhadro and harvests the paddy in Magh. Bagda is cultivated from Magh to Asharh, though it seems that it is cultivated for a longer period in West Badurgacha.

1.2.1. Paddy: Only Aman paddy and no Rabi crops Paddy is only cultivated during the monsoon season (Aman, Kharif II). There is therefore no other time for paddy cultivation, i.e. during Rabi (Boro paddy) or Kharif I (Aus). Prior to the embankment, local Aman varieties such as Balaam, Horkoj and Bojromuri were cultivated. Now there are more high-yielding varieties that are saline tolerant (IRRI 23, 11, 28, 41, Ashfol and Balam). The amount of Aman paddy cultivated during the monsoon season (Kharif II) is found to be sufficient for annual household consumption. Farmers cum gher owners in the area do not want to cultivate paddy for longer periods that that, stating that is unprofitable considering higher labours costs and low market value (Gher owner, 6 biggha). It was further argued that the area was far too saline to allow for high-yielding varieties of Boro paddy during the Rabi season. Our area is salty water area. If we cultivate Goromer dhan (HYV Boro paddy) at this area, it will die. Bagda grows better than that. So we are bound to culture Bagda. However, another respondent mentioned that he cultivates both bagda and Boro paddy (IRRI, Balam, Gunshi) (Gher and paddy farmer, 14 acres, Bagchra). The HYV Boro yields 18-20 mound per bigha while the local varities yield 10-12 mound per bigha. 150 mound is kept for household consumption and the remaining paddy is sold at the market for 600 taka per mound. It was not mentioned if the selling price differs between 14

local and high-yielding varieties. It is also not clear which variety he himself chooses to consume at home, though it is likely it is the local variety. Use of fertilisers and pesticides were not mentioned, only that paddy is vulnerable to pest attacks. On the other hand, it seems that there is a USAID funded project that is conducting an experiment on how to reduce soil salinity for paddy cultivation. Due to salinity, there are no Rabi crops cultivated in the area. Sesame and wheat are not cultivated and there was no mention of vegetables. No other crops harvest here except paddy and fish. This was partly also attributed to the fact that Badurgacha is located on lowlands and more due to the inability to grow vegetables due to high soil salinity.

1.2.2. Fish: Declining over time Prior to the construction of the embankment there was a plenitude of freshwater fish in the rivers. Examples include Koi, Boal, Shail Vangal, Datni, Kain, Ar, Vola,, Patari (Bhetki) and Bain. The fish would live in the river and enter the canals naturally. There was no need for buying fish fry. Due to increased salinity, freshwater species and crabs have gone extinct from the area. The amount of river fish species has also declined substantially (WMCA FGD and General FGD Badurgacha). It was further mentioned that fishermen used to maintain their livelihood by catching fishes in the rivers and they have now significantly lost this livelihood option. Natural fisheries have been replaced by commercial cultivation of Parshe, Tilapia, Patari, Bagda shrimp and Galda prawn. This usually takes place during the monsoon season when the water is less saline (Gher owner, 6 acres, Badurgacha). Bhetki and Parshe are now cultivated in ghers/ponds and one needs to buy the fish fry from the market.

1.2.3. Shrimp: Predominant cultivation choice The WMCA FGD mentioned that bagda cultivation started after 1972 by individual landowners. According to some respondents, salinity during the dry season is the key reason for why they cultivate bagda over Boro paddy. The shrimp fry is stocked in the ghers in February-March and harvested in April-June. However, the WMCA President mentioned that Galda prawn and Bagda shrimp are cultivated from the time of Aman harvesting (December) for three months, i.e. until March-April. Another mentioned that they cultivate Bagda from March to June (Choitro to Joishtho). Though these gher owners from Badurgacha and Bagarcha villages all mentioned three months of bagda cultivation, it seems that there might be nine months of bagda cultivation all in all. One of the LCS respondents mentioned that there are some influential persons at the area who cultivate shrimp by drain in saline water at the whole year. This has not been confirmed by the gher owners themselves. One gher owner (6 acres, Badurgacha) claimed he cultivates fish for twelve months, but only cultivates Bagda from February to April. The combination of Bagda and white fish like the ones mentioned above is seen as highly profitable by the gher owners as they pay less for labour and the market price is higher. Though shrimp cultivation was seen as profitable and increasing incomes in the area, it was also acknowledged that income did not increase for all, but some people have been benefitted more by culturing commercial shrimp (Gher owner, 6 acres, Badurgacha). Nevertheless, profitability also seems contingent on attack by bagda virus or white spot disease. It was argued by the Union Parishad Chairman and Member that virus infection is very frequent in small-sized ghers that cause serious losses in shrimp cultivation. According to them, the virus breaks out when salinity levels are higher than 25 PPT, i.e. that excess salinity may increase the risk of virus infection in the bagda. The 15

WMCA President mentioned that if deep tubewells were available for irrigation they would prefer to grow paddy during the dry season as the shallow tubewells are contaminated with iron and salinity.

3. LIVELIHOODS
3.1. Food security and Salinity: Effects on livestock and vegetation

The previous section noted how the cropping system in Bagchra-Badurgacha is heavily affected by salinity. Only one season of paddy grows, there is no Rabi crop and mostly brackish shrimp is seen as the only viable option considering levels of salinity in the soil. Beyond crops, salinity is seen as reducing grass. One respondent even stated that now grass does not even grow due to salinity. As a result, the local people must buy feed from the market for their livestock. Since this is costly (now cattle feed is relatively more expensive than the cattle itself), some households have decided to no longer rear livestock. This in turn has reduced dairy farming. In addition fruit trees such as coconut, betel nut (supari) and date (khejur) have died due to salinity in the water. Though the Aman harvest may meet household consumption for one year among medium to large farmers, it is not evident that this is the case for small farmers. Due to the effect of salinity, people must buy vegetables, fruit, meat and feed (straw) for livestock from the market and using it from their income sources. Though profits from shrimp may compensate for this for some people, it may not be sufficient for others. This is discussed below.

3.2.

Employment opportunities

In the WMCA FGD and in KIIs with gher owners, it was mentioned that the situation of vegetables, cattle and livestock is as good as it always have been. They are happy that incomes have risen and employment opportunities increased since shrimp cultivation and the construction of the LGED polder. Now we are self-dependant (Gher owner, 14 acres). It was argued that people have shifted from agriculture to business, government offices and services and can now send their children to higher education. Due to paddy and shrimp culturing no one is now unemployed here (FGD General Badurgacha). As such, many people in Badurgacha across respondent groups felt that livelihood opportunities have improved and that they have more enabling choices than before. This may, however, not be representative of the broader population as a whole. One gher owner mentioned that some families in the area migrated to India as they were unable to survive in this area. They were not able to cultivate Bagda due to the high investment cost. At the same time, paddy yields were low due to salinity. These families were as such forced to migrate to India (Gher owner, 14 acres). Not all of these people seemed to have left. An FGD with male Labour Contracting Society members comprising of poor and landless day labourers stated that the majority of villagers in Bagchra are poor, where neither paddy nor shrimp cultivation are profitable for them. We do not get good production of paddy and crops due to salinity. Shrimp ghers are affected by virus, this risk is unmanageable for us. If we lose our shrimp production we fall in debt. We must recover the production cost to repay the debt and maintain our families (Participant, FGD LCS male). There seems to be a correlation between the size of gher, where the small gher owners are frequently struck by virus and fall in debt as a consequence. It can therefore be argued

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that livelihood opportunities may have increased for some groups, but have made others more vulnerable. Those that have not been able to adapt have instead migrated away.

3.2.1. Labour Contracting Societies Labour Contracting Societies (LCS) are groups consisting of males or females engaged in earthworks. This includes repairing of roads and embankments, as well as re-excavation of canals. They can be hired by any project, from a WMCA, government agency, Union Parishad or NGO. In Bagchra-Badurgacha, the WMCA is responsible for forming LCS groups when a project appears. According to the Vice-President, they do so by holding a general meeting for all local people and try to find the amount of people required. One person is nominated as sardar, the leader of the group. The sardar decides what they will do and where and is coordinating with the implementing agency and paying the earth workers. According to the WMCA, the sardar must pay the salary from his own pocket until reimbursed via project funds. Two LCS groups were interviewed in the subproject, one male and one female. It was mentioned that most of the earthwork are conducted during July to August (Bhadra) during the rainy season. Instead of a unanimous sardar elected by the WMCA, they mention that contractors call various sardars for a bidding process, where the lowest bidder gets the contract for the earthwork. Though some say that each group has 25 members, this group states that the number of workers depends on the demand of the work. As such, it can stretch from 10 to 40 members. According to the female LCS group, all the LCS members must be members of the WMCA and poor, the final members are selected via lottery. This particular group consists of women who own land and are able to cultivate both paddy and shrimp. Only one woman specified that she has no land for cultivation and was frustrated that she could not even have a homestead garden as vegetables do not grow here due to salinity. Among the FGD participants, most of the women were married and owned more than 1 acre of land. The most vocal of the women owned more than 6 acres and cultivating both bagda and paddy. They are currently not working and did not have any tensions about this. It is not clear how active they are in the LCS and whether they do any actual earthworks. Though the male LCS group are also members of the WMCA and provide monthly contribution, they were more sceptical to the current situation of water management. However, they claimed that they get their wages in a timely and correct manner. In terms of training, the male LCS group had received training on fisheries in 2009-10 arranged through the WMCA, while the women had not received any training. The male LCS did not find the training particularly useful as the training emphasised higher input costs for fertiliser, feed, and fish fry targeted towards larger landholding shares and was financially too difficult for this group of people to adhere to. The women mentioned that they are interested in training, especially in activities that would help increase their financial solvency. There are also gender differences between the groups in terms of wages. Women earn only 100 taka per day for 5 hours of work, while the male LCS earn 150 taka per day for the same amount of work. One woman respondent not engaged in earthwork stated that this gap is justified as men can do more work and work harder. The male LCS respondents, on the other hand, argued that women are more active than male workers and still get 10 taka less per hour. Currently, earthwork is not available the full year. The women mentioned that they would earn an income from sowing and handicrafts, fishing and rearing cattle. They did not mention relying on their husbands or any other form of income source. The men mentioned how they would harvest paddy from November to January and work in the shrimp ghers the rest of the time. Since they can only do earthworks for 3-4 months, they tend to migrate away from the village to help maintain their families. The male LCS did not feel that joining the LCS group has led to any significant improvements in their livelihoods. They felt trapped by being forced into shrimp cultivation an activity that they find 17

increasingly unprofitable and escalating their debt, while the day labourer wages are too low. The women on the other hand felt that the LCS employment has increased their opportunities and enabled them more mobility and monetary income.

3.3.

Drinking water situation

There are different accounts of the drinking water situation. WMCA EC members mention how the drinking water situation has improved in the past few decades. From relying on rainwater and sharing one tubewell for the entire area, the density of safe deep tubewells have increased in the past decade. There are approximately 6070 deep tubewells in the Bagchra-Badurgacha subproject and safe drinking water can be found at 500550 feet depth (FGD WMCA). The actual number of tubewells seems to vary, but tend to be much lower than 60-70 as suggested by the WMCA. The gher owner in Bagchra (6 acres) mentioned that there are 13 deep tubewells in his area, while the other gher owner (14 acres) mentioned that there are 26-27 tubewells and that 12 more will be installed. . According to the Union Parishad Chairman, groundwater at 250 feet depth is high in iron and salinity content, making shallow tubewells inadequate for both drinking water and irrigation. The LGED Community Organiser further stated that salinity drinking water is a major problem and indirectly attributed this to shrimp cultivation. It is not possible to drink water which is lifted by the deep tube-well, as there is saline water shrimp cultivation is profitable, drinking water is scarce. The Union Parishad is the first point of contact for requests related to drinking water in the area. They are currently engaged in a water and sanitation project funded by DANIDA and the Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) called HYSAWA for a cost of 3 crore taka. The project will install 188 deep tubewells at 300 ft in Sobhana Union over the next 2 years and construct a pipeline for drinking water supply where deep tubewells are not possible (UP Chairman). In general it seems that the Union Parishad plays the important role in liaising with communities and relevant government agencies and donors to provide drinking water sources. Often several households (at least ten) need to agree on sharing a deep tubewell together and must submit a form to the Union Parishad. As the salinity level is high in the canals and ponds in this area, community people use deep tubewells for drinking water, washing clothes, cooking and washing dishes (single female headed household, SL#1, 5 bigha).

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4. CONDITION OF THE PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

4.1. Condition of the Embankment

Across all respondents and through or own observations, it became evident that the condition of the embankment constructed in the 1990s is very poor and vulnerable.
The condition of the embankment is very bad. It can be broken at any time. LGED was supposed to repair it but they did not repair it. This embankment can be broken and two villages of my area may be flooded during rainy season. Due to this, Rabi crops and fish cultivation will be affected. Famine will be occurred in our area./ Union Parishad Member, Ward No 9.

Three causes were identified to the extremely poor condition of the embankment i) river erosion, ii) pipes in the embankment and iii) insufficient maintenance. It was also mentioned that the condition of the embankment in the west is in relatively good condition, while the side on the east facing Telighati River is in a very vulnerable condition due to river erosion coupled with lack of maintenance assistance from LGED. Particular stretches include the Hindu graveyard at the south of Badurgacha village where the Telighati River meets the Ghangrail river to the Bagchar Khal. The only cyclone shelter is located next to Telighati, but is weak, mismanaged and would be vulnerable to flooding if the embankment would break. More than 3 km of the 10 km long embankment is seen to be in poor condition.

Figure 3 -

Condition of Embankment

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4.1.1. River erosion The tidal flows of the delta lead to immense water pressure from the waves onto the embankment, causing it to break during high tide (during full moon and dark moon). The water then enters inside into the subproject area causing fear for lives and livelihoods. In addition, the river erosion leads to land breaking away and thus people losing their land to the river. Constant pressure from the river erodes the embankment through creating holes in the embankment so that water leaks in. The WMCA President further mentioned that a sluice gate in Jessore District called the Bobodoho gate also contributes to river erosion. When it drains out excess water it causes sudden water pressure as the retention capacity of rivers and khals have reduced from siltation. Due to this, 3-4 km of houses along the embankment are submerged by the river water. It was suggested that the embankment is shifted 20 feet further away from the river by one respondent, while others argued that it should be made wider and higher.

4.1.2. Pipes The map of the condition of the infrastructure shows the number of pipes through the red dots. There are a plenitude of pipes, over 100 according to the Union Parishad Chairman who takes a strong stance against them, and only 2-4 pipes according to the LGED Community Organiser who claims that there minimal pipes in the area. A large farmer (Gher owner, 14 acres) noted that the pipes have been constructed by written permission from the WMCA. In this, there is a formal condition that if these pipes affect the embankment, the landowner must take full responsibility to address this. According to him, many people install pipes in their lands in order to irrigate their ghers, especially those located far away from the embankment. He also mentioned that LGED had instructed them to remove Vatir pipe (a large pipe made with cement) as it was seen as weakening the embankment by making the soil loose around the pipe LGED does not interrupt regarding these pipes. But they know about these pipes. When they visit this area, they also see these. The Union Parishad Member of ward 9 further mentioned that these pipes can only allow water to enter the subproject, but they are unable to drain the excess water out. Instead water has to be drained out from one gher to another. Both the UP Member and Chairman have tried to remove pipes in Bagchra and Badurgacha also through the help of the Vice President and the Secretary of the WMCA. They were supported by the male LCS group that pipes need to be banned and removed as they are making the embankment weaker The embankment was damaged in many places of the embankment during rainy season due to pipe inlets.

4.1.3. Emergency responses Tidal surges and cyclones were mentioned as key problems as they break the embankment and put lives at risk. When asked how the community reacted in the face of disaster, no mention was given to LGED and the WMCA. Rather, it was the Union Parishad Chairman who was seen as active in organising the community and the local villagers themselves began to repair the embankment through their own initiatives and voluntary service. The high tide hit at night and the villagers started their work during the night. If there is any severe problem of inundation, the UPC call villagers through loudspeakers to remove water. They are compensated through food from the Food for Work program (KABHIKA). Across all FGDs, it was mentioned that the Union Parishad Chairman and Member repaired the embankment with the help of local people. The UPC stated that he would pay 200 taka to all that help, spending 50 000 60 000 taka from his own funds. He is still awaiting reimbursement. He also noted that this was done one month prior to UPC elections. The General FGD, however, mentioned that the government (not clear if this is referring to LGED) helped 20

during Aila to repair the embankment. However, both the male and female LCS groups note that they worked on a voluntary basis: Then we all worked together, money was not needed (Female LCS) and All villagers worked there voluntarily, there was no cost for labour. We did it to survive. (Male LCS). As such, it is not clear where the funds were going or what the Union Parishad was referring to in terms of labour compensation, though it was mentioned that pipe owners (i.e. gher owners) contributed small funds for some of the bamboo. The material used was mud and locally collected bamboo used as blockage. However, after the immediate repairs, it was noted that more support to strengthen the embankment was required, yet this support has not materialised (Male LCS). Yet in the same FGD, it was also mentioned that the subproject received 100 000 taka donations from the Member of Parliament to repair the very weak part of the embankment in the south (around the Hindu graveyard). In general, the WMCA holds a collaborative relationship with the MP. In addition, the Union Parishad together with NGOs was active in distributing emergency relief such as tin, clothes, rice, lentils, edible oils and other foods straight after Aila. According to the Female LCS group, assistance is given based on a list of the names of poor people it was not mentioned whether or not there is misappropriation and wrongful distribution in this system.

4.2.

Condition of the Sluice gates

Khal Simanar Khal Reshikhar khal, Bekotmari khal Description Bagchra sluice gate Badurgacha sluice gate. Linked to Telighati River . Comment Good Active and Good (IWM map + FGDs) Closed (UP Member)

Sluice gate # SL#1 SL# 2

Sluice #1 is located in the northeast in Bagchra village and is connected to Simanar Khal. Sluice #2 is located in the southeast in Badurgacha village and is connected to Reshikhar khal. These gates were constructed in 2000 and no other sluice gates (i.e. non-LGED) were found in the polder. The respondents stated that the conditions of the gates are good both for flushing and drawing in water and there are no problems. If there are any problems they usually contact the WMCA and LGED repairs anything major. These responses came from both local government officials and throughout the General and WMCA FGDs comprising mostly of WMCA members. Interestingly, the LCS FGDs did not mention anything on the matter. Shushilan during the fieldwork did, however, notice that though the sluice gates are working, bamboos and ropes are used to open and close SL#1. In addition, the FGDS with the male LCS group indicated that the number of gates is insufficient and leading to drainage congestion during the monsoon, inundating crops. They suggested that with more regulators, the practice of informal pipes weakening the embankment may reduce.

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Table 9 -

Condition of Sluice gate #1 (left) and 2 (right) (IWMI/Shushilan)

4.3.

Condition of the Canals and Rivers

Khal/River Telighati River, Rishikar khal, Napatir khal, Simanar khal Baor khal, Khanaparia khal, Bettana khal, Boro Biler khal, Chigorer khal, Kuri Biler khal, Sakabai khal, Rishiker khal, Simanar khal, Badurgacha khal, Ghangrail River, Chila River Parts of Naptir khal, Duanir khal Rishikar khal, Napatir khal, Simanar khal
Table 10 Condition of the canals

Condition Good/newly excavated Silted and active

Silted and inactive Leased out by WMCA

4.3.1. Siltation Bagchra-Badurgacha subproject is surrounded by rivers on both sides. However, both the Telighati and Ghangrail rivers have reduced considerably in size over the past few decades. Rivers have become canals and canals themselves have dried up and turned into land. The Rishika khal was almost as wide as a river and is smaller than it used to be. The Bhadra River has silted to the degree that it has dried up and is now called the Mora Bhadra (Dead Bhadra). Telighati is seen as a dead river it has lost its youth stage due to over siltation and mismanagement of rivers by the government. The two canals connected to the LGED sluice gates are said to be in relatively good condition, but require more excavation. The two rivers are still active, but silted and reducing in size over time. The main concern with siltation is that it reduces water flow and leads to stagnation of water. In addition, due to reduced retention capacity, waterlogging and flooding tend to become more frequent. Due to this, people rely more on pipes for their water requirements than the canals. In fact, many of the inner canals of the polder have almost died due to the high rate of siltation; some have turned into land mass due to silt deposit. This has further led to a practice of landowners preferring the canals to turn into land so that they increase 22

their land area. They do not allow for re-excavation as this would dive my land into two parts (WMCA member). The rivers and canals that have died due to siltation are now being used as government vacant (khas) land. According to the male LCS group, influential elites and poor people have occupied these new lands through housing. Due to siltation of canals the production cost of paddy has also increased as irrigation has become more expensive.

4.3.2. Private control over canals According to the WMCA Vice-President, there is no private canal in the area all canals belong to the beneficiaries of the project. He also says that the WMCA instead engages in a tender process on leasing out canals. The funds from leasing are then used to pay for maintenance. The three canals that are currently in good condition, Simanar, Rishikar and Naptir khals are leased. The lease takers use the canals to cultivate fish, though it was not specified that this is mostly bagda shrimp. According to the WMCA President, there are no problems with the leasing system. However, the Union Parishad Chairman mentioned how the Sakabai khal, Baoar khal and Khanaparia khals in Sobhana Union were provided as lease under its blocked water logged condition. Outside Badurgacha, influential elites take the lease from the DC office by paying 20/30 thousands taka per year. After that, they cultivate fish by putting Pata at about 20 spots of the khals. If they put one Pata, half of the water of the khal is blocked and this impedes drainage, thus causing waterlogging. He therefore argues that leasing of public canals should be banned and that Patas should not be allowed. This allows water to flow freely and poor people can fish from the canals while fish can breed naturally.

5. OPERATION OF SLUICE GATES

The fieldwork suggests that the WMCA decides when to open and close the gates. This is then implemented by a gate sub-committee and a designated operator who provides voluntary service. The operator is also given some limited fishing rights. There does not seem to be any differences across the subproject. According to the LGED community organiser, the operation is needs based and there is little problem of capture. The WMCA has created a situation of a balance of power to control over water management of rivers and canals. Large and influential farmers have little access to dominate their decision. This is contrasted by the Union Parishad Chairman who argues that though the power now lies with local people rather than outsiders, the control has shifted only from outside gher owners to local gher owners. It is difficult to ascertain an adequate picture of the nature of sluice gate operation. For instance one gher owner (6 acres) states that decisions are taken in a collaborative fashion with discussion and permission from the WMCA, he is also the Secretary of a gate sub-committee. He argues that the gates are closed during the saline season and opened during the monsoon and when the river still contains freshwater. Bagda, he argues, is solely cultivated from February to April i.e. only for three months per year. He denies that there is any opening of the gate for salinity intrusion during the dry season when the river has turned saline. Similarly, another gher owner (14 acres) stated that Nobody can drain in water illegally with their own interest at here. Both of these gher owner correspondents are members of WMCA sub-committees. However, one WMCA member at the General FGD mentioned that gates are only closed from December to January and then kept open from February to November. The KII with the single female headed household 23

revealed that the gates are closed when people have shrimp in their ghers to prevent them from disappearing. The gates are then opened from March to May (Choitro to Boishak), when the river is at its saline peak she saw this as the WMCA carrying out its responsibility properly. The female LCS group similarly mentioned that they are able to obtain water when required by directly requesting the gate committee member that lives close to the gate (SL#1), they too cultivate shrimp. The responses thus vary in terms of when the two gates are opened, where the official version is suggesting less saline intrusion and the general perception is that water requirements are met for ghers. The LCS male group, however, focused more on the issue of pipes that let in water, without being able to flush it out. In terms of this added complexity of pipes as a source of saline water for ghers and the poor condition of many internal canals, perhaps the operation of the gates have become redundant when pipes are used instead? Overall, freshwater only seems possible during the monsoon and bagda is cultivated through sluice gates and pipes straight after harvest in December to June.

6. MAINTENANCE OF PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

6.1. Construction and Rehabilitation 1997-2001

The LGED initiated the SSWRDSP I project in Bagchar-Badurgacha in 1997. This involved re-sectioning and rehabilitation of the embankment and re-excavation of Simanar, Reshiker, and Naptir canals. They further constructed the sluice gates in Simanar khal (SL#1) and Bakotmari khal connected to Reshikher khal (SL#2). One O&M shed was made, i.e. the WMCA office. In total, over 986,2 lakh taka was spent on this rehabilitation.
Name of Works
Embankment Re-sectioning(Sec. A) Embankment Re-sectioning(Sec. B) Simanar Khal Re-excavation Reshiker Khal Re-excavation Naptir Khal Re-excavation Simanar Regulator at Ch.1+850m Bakotmari Regulator at Ch.8+670m O&M Shed

Size / Length(km) 9.83 km 4.98 km 1 km 1.97 km 1.5 km 1-V(1.5mX1.5m) 1-V(1.5mX1.5m)

Est. Cost (tk) 4,379,840 774,997 75,335 332,049 254,971 1,716,156 2,064,776 264,419

Table 11 -

Construction and Rehabilitation by LGED 1997-2001 (LGED, 2008)

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6.2.

Handover agreement and responsibilities

LGED handed over the responsibility of the maintenance to the Bagchar-Badurgacha Water Management Cooperative Association on the 23rd January, 2002, i.e. over a decade ago. The main categories are Additional Infrastructure such as regulators, Emergency Maintenance, Theft and wilful damage, Periodic maintenance and Routine maintenance. Table 3 illustrates how LGED will fund additional infrastructure and emergency maintenance entirely, while the WMCA is fully responsible for the minor maintenance such as removing water hyacinths from canals, greasing and repainting the gate and doing minor repairs of embankment after rainfall. Wilful damage of various parts, as well as canal excavation are to be shared evenly between LGED and the WMCA. At the time of handover, the WMCA had 124 500 taka in its funds. However, the next few subsections will discuss the continued institutional linkages between LGED and the WMCA, where LGED has actively been involved with the WMCA for the past decade. It will be argued that an actual handover has not fully taken place, where the community members themselves do not see the project to have ended.
Category Additional infrastructure Description Additional regulators or bridges, extension of khals or embankments, construction of (brick) reference sections along khals, construction of masonry pillars to inform operations, brick paving to embankments Due to abnormal exposure condition such as floods, cyclones etc. Stolen parts on regulators, cuts and pipes etc. Sediment removal from khals, re-sectioning/modeling and sodding of embankments, tree planting, repair of failed brick paving every 3-6 years Gate greasing and re-painting, embankment raincut repair and surface re-grading and removing plants from khal. 100% GoB Source of Funding

Emergency maintenance Theft and wilful damage to infrastructure Periodic maintenance

100% GoB Matching fund: 50% GoB and 50% WMCA Matching fund: 50% GoB and 50% WMCA

Routine (annual) maintenance

100% WMCA

Table 12 -

Maintenance responsibilities LGED-WMCA (LGED, 2012)

6.2.1. Continued linkages with LGED staff One way that LGED has tried to ensure continuity and sustainability is through creating permanent field positions for Community Organisers and Field facilitators to extend cooperation to the WMCA. According to the CO in Dumuria that is responsible to supervise the Bagchar-Badurgacha WMCA, the COs are responsible for overall support to form WMCAs and help them with achieving their water management goals. It was also mentioned that the COs seek the support of LGED Socio-Economists, though they are project staff rather than permanent staff. The LGED field team from the non-technical side provides guidelines on how to run a cooperative and follow up that meetings are being held and membership contributions are collected. LGED also emphasises staff capacity building and promotes that their staff attend various training for skill development. Already at the start of SSWRDSP I in 1994-95 LGED organised full day workshops as well as a 5 day comprehensive training on how to form WMCAs. In addition, the respondent mentioned having received training on cooperation of the Union Parishad. Training on women, gender, role of Union Parishad and development of markets at the road centre were provided by LGED projects. Though overall positive 25

about LGEDs working methodology, he further mentioned that the number of field facilitators in new projects is insufficient, stating that best quality would be ensured if there would be 1-2 Field Facilitators per project during implementation.

6.2.2. Annual supervision and O&M Plan Bagchra-Badurgacha subproject is located between two BWDB polders. The WMCA feels fortunate for having LGED as their first point of contact of maintenance rather than BWDB. A smaller area they find to be more manageable and cohesive than a large BWDB polder (above 1000 ha) and the LGED as pore present and active than BWDB who they argue leave as soon as the project ends.
Water Development Board works in a large scale, thats why they cannot work well. Water Development Board carries out the work by arranging money from the foreign donors. They just go home after finishing their work. They do not have any tension whether the roads/embankment are broken or not. (FGD General)

Several WMCA members at different occasions mention that LGED visits the subproject annually, both during the monsoon and the dry season. An O&M plan is made by the WMCA where they estimate the required costs for maintenance in terms of labour and material. This is sent to LGED at Upazila level who then visits the sub-project to confirm and verify the issues estimated in the O&M plan through the Upazila Offiver. The Upazila Engineer then gives permission of conducting the activities (according to the CO). The final version is sent to LGED head office in Dhaka with a copy to the WMCA. Based on the request, LGED may or may not allocate funds. It seems that the decision to allocate is based on a activity report where the WMCA lists their various activities (FGD WMCA).

6.2.3. Continuation of project and funding Due to the presence of staff combined with regular supervision and a formal channel of continued funding via the Upazila and coordinated through the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) unit at LGED in Agargaon Dhaka, one may argue that LGED has never really left the project. As many of the respondents have noted, they have benefitted from three consecutive phases of SSWRDSP and have always had project support. Phase I started in 1997, Phase II in 2006 and Phase III in 2011. According to the Vice President Abul Hossain, LGED has been very responsive to their maintenance concerns. When they observed erosion on the embankment, they notified LGED and have received a project to the amount of 10 million taka (1 crore) that is funded through the ADB. This was obtained through the Member of Parliament liasing on their behalf. With the funds, 5 km of the embankment will be resectioned, 5 km khal will be reexcavated, the Badurgacha gate will be repaired and an additional culvert will be constructed.
They have not completed their work till now. They had a contract of three years. Thus they are helping us continuously. We have also been carrying out these activities by our own initiatives. (General FGD, Badurgacha) In this area, our all development has done by LGED. Still there is no interruption or ending of program thats why we dont know what will happen in such cases (WMCA FGD).

The WMCA President further noted that by last year alone, LGED provided 750 000 taka for repairing the embankment and excavating the main canals (Telighati and Ghangrail Rivers) via the WMCA. However, after a year, the same repaired section has now been eroded again. LGED has therefore also constructed bamboo cages in the water to help prevent further river erosion. 26

6.3.

Cost-sharing

It was noted that the funds given by LGED is not always sufficient and that the WMCA helps with the costs for embankment repair, this is seen as periodic maintenance where costs are to be shared evenly between the LGED and WMCA. For this endeavour, the WMCA uses funds raised from leasing out the canals, membership shares, monthly sees/savings and interest collected from micro-credit to match LGEDs funds. In addition, they have a practice of collecting 50 taka per bigha from landowning WMCA members for conducting activities. The Paddy-gher farmer (14 acres) mentioned that during one emergency repair, even 200 taka per bigha was collected so as to finish the work. One recent example of cost-sharing happened in 2011 when the WMCA with the LGED installed a ring embankment through matching funds. Through contributions proportional to landholding, the WMCA was able to collect 160 000 taka from the local community. One WMCA member stated that sharing costs helps create a sense of ownership, though it is not clear whether or not this was internalised discourse from meeting frequently with donors, researchers and LGED, or if this is indeed the case. We are strongly involved with LGED work. We develop the scheme, LGED rectifies this and give approval. So, we feel that this is our work. Measurement, calculation, budget and implementation planning everything are done by us. In general, many of the responses from the WMCA members fit with formal LGED guidelines and requirement. It was, however, not clear how the WMCA engages in these activities. There was a mentioning of various sub-committees for the gate, khals and embankment, but it was not mentioned how they are coordinated.

6.4.

Role of Union Parishad in Maintenance

According to the LGED Community Organiser and the WMCA Executive Committee members, the Union Parishad is not involved in maintenance activities this is done fully by LGED and the WMCA comprising of local people holding land in the subproject. However, the CO also mentioned that the Union Parishad was active in conducting several activities in the area prior to the SSWRDSP project. They have now been replaced by the LGED who works through the WMCA. The WMCA further mentioned that neither the Union Parishad Chairman nor Union Parishad Member can be members of the Bagchar-Badurgrgacha WMCA as they are not local landowners. They can, however, attend WMCA meetings if the committee requests them to join. However, in the General FGD in Badurgacha, it was noted that the Union Parishad plays an active role in repairing the embankment. Other participants mentioned that the UPs immediate and active contribution during Aila was especially valuable. The participants further mentioned that the UP does their best to help, though assistance is insufficient to meet demand. In addition, if there is any project, such a rural employment scheme as Food for Works or 40 day work order, the Union Parishad member will contact the community and WMCA and inform them about it. The Union Parishad member of the No 9 Ward of Sobhana Union, considered himself very active in water management and gave several examples of work on the embankment, canals and gates. Through funds allocated via the Member or Parliament (150 000 taka), he constructed a road from the side of Badurgacha, Madartola upto Simanar khal. He also has repaired the gate if the government (District, Upazila) allocates funds for that purpose. Through his own initiative, he collected 100 taka per bigha to excavate the Chila River. In addition, 40% of the funds raised through the kheya ghat, i.e. the harbour, is used to implement water management related activities. Currently the Union Parishad is making use of Labour Contracting Society groups for such earthwork conducted under the Union Parishad. 27

The male LCS group was particularly positive about the UPs work in maintenance and how they select poor people from the local areas to give direct contracts to. Maintenance Embankment repairs of river erosion Canals Gates
Table 13 -

LGED Yes

WMCA Yes

Union Parishad Yes (UP)

Yes Yes

Yes Yes

Yes (UP) Yes (UP)

Overview of Maintenance in Bagchra-Badurgacha

6.5.

Main issues of Maintenance

SSWRDSP I ended over a decade ago and the WMCA still exists today and is stated to be active in maintenance. Yet the findings indicate that to the community itself, the project has continued and never really ended. Staff, funding and continuity still exist and LGED is proactive in engaging with the WMCA and responding to their requests. The WMCA even wants to keep the UPs involvement kept to a minimum so that LGED with its project funding can work in the area. Here LGED works thats why no other works (Respondent, General FGD, Badurgacha). It is also mentioned by the WMCA President that they have been repairing the embankment every year since 1998, while the CO mentioned that local people have become more dependent on the WMCA and LGED. The field data and responses suggest that LGEDs interactions with the WMCA have become highly institutionalised and standardised. Yet what seems odd is that despite the ownership, cost-sharing and active engagements with LGED, the condition of road and embankment are appalling. The condition of the sluice gates shows that they are opened and closed with bamboo and rope (though apparently funding has been given to resolve this). At the time of data collection, the road communication was bad where the embankment was in very poor shape with cracks and holes. Several respondents mentioned how the present condition of the embankment is poor. It was argued that the funds given from LGED are insufficient, especially during emergencies. Although the WMCA is prepared to pay for half of the maintenance of the sub-project, the other half to be paid is expensive and LGED says they do not have the money.
Last year we spent one lakh and sixty thousand taka from our committee for carrying out the maintenance related activities. We submitted the budget with report to the LGED. All times, LGED does not provide us money. It is depended on their allocation and availability of fund. This year we sent the Member of Parliament (MP) to speak to LGED head office in Agargaon. They said that they do not have such amounts available in their budgets and have therefore sent a request to Asian Development Bank (ADB), the donor (WMCA President, March 2012).

When asked why they chose to send the MP to represent their interests with LGED head office people, they answered that he is their public representative and carries weight in the capital. They had even managed to get the Executive Engineer involved and come to visit. For them the MP, Union Parishad, Upazila Parishad theyre all the same as they have good relations and coordination. It was the Upazila that had requested the MP to take this request further. This WMCA is using its own political and administrative contacts to push for more funding, facilitated by their long experience of working in the WMCA since its onset and knowing the 28

rules. As a result, project funding is now reaching Badurgacha as 1 crore taka has been granted for new excavation works.

7. SWRDSP: PROJECT PROCESS AND RESULTS

7.1. WMCA formation: Election and Selection

A WMCA member in the General FGD mentioned that the WMCA was formed in 1996-97 prior to any construction work. The key role was played by a Mr Sudhuranjan who was an Awami League leader that cooperated with the former Health Minister Mr Salauddin and LGED to bring SSWRDSP to BagachraBadurgacha. According to the WMCA executive committee, it was formed to develop the community, save lives and assets, as well as protect them from river erosion. It was also mentioned that there was a sort of peoples committee even prior to the SSWRDSP and LGED involvement. It consisted of 42 farmers of both Hindu and Muslim backgrounds who were responsible for 30 bigha land. They were led by a Sardar to construct temporary embankments. According to two executive committee members, this society was then transferred to the LGED WMCA. The WMCA consisted of 486 members at the onset and this has changed the same except for 2 members passing away. However, another respondent mentioned that the population has been increasing, yet no new members have joined. The WMCA consists of general body and an executive committee. In the General FGD it was argued that all positions for the executive committee were initially filled through elections and voting. This was seen as costly and disruptive of continuity. Since then the EC positions have taken place through selection of people that can give time to the committee. In turn, this has also led to a scarcity of opposition the General FGD participants argued. However, a gher owner (14 acres) mentioned that elections are held every three years and no one can hold the same position twice. In general 5-6 people apply according to him, yet the number of EC members should be 12 and it is not clear then how they are selected. He also suggested that they need to acquire permission to hold elections from the Election Office, though this has not been verified. Interestingly, the current President mentioned that most Presidencies have been held within his family and he has served as President many times before. Usually there are three quintessential office bearers, President, Secretary and Treasurer. In Bagchar-Badurgacha, however, it seems that the Vice President is taking a proactive role and involvement in the day to day activities of the WMCA, while the President fills a more formal and representative role.

7.2.

Sub-committees

According to the WMCA President, there are sub-committees for all activities of the committee. In each committee there are different members. Nobody is member of more than one committee. The maintenance committee carries out the maintenance activities of the road. The loan committee disburses loans among the WMCA members, while the gate committee carries out the maintenance activities of the gate. There is also a khal committee that is responsible for re-excavation activities and this seems to be linked to the task of forming temporary LCS groups whenever there is project funding available. The WMCA EC mentioned that the sub-committees are formed at village/ward levels and are coordinated, supervised and guided by the 29

WMCA EC. In general, the various WMCA general members, EC and gher owners mentioned that they think that both the WMCA and sub-committees are doing well and there are no problems. Many of them also held positions of President or Secretary in e.g. the gate committees that operate the gates. The EC seemed clear on the operational structure and it seems to fit well with LGED guidelines. If this is rhetoric developed through frequent exposure to researchers, donors, PhD and government officials over the year from Bangladesh and outside the country, is hard to ascertain.

7.3.

Training

The Departments of Fisheries., Agricultural Extension and Cooperatives organise and provide training facilitated by LGED who takes the role of coordinating with other government departments. The LGED CO mentioned that they provided training sessions on fisheries, vegetable cultivation and livestock rearing prior to the project construction. Local people (LGED uses the term beneficiary) were informed via the WMCA. The WMCA did not seem to indicate that this had been reduced after the handover in 2001, while the CO mentioned that it is the WMCAs responsibility to organise training on cooperative management and fisheries at different times. From the respondents, it appears that it was primarily WMCA EC members and those holding President/Secretary positions in the sub-committees that have received training on shrimp cultivation and water management. None of the women respondents mentioned that they had received any training.

7.4.

WMCA Input in Project Design

It was clearly emphasised by the WMCA EC that they follow LGED guidelines and that LGED in turn follows a participatory approach where they conduct all activities by first discussing it with the beneficiaries. This is often it seems through the top positions of the WMCA, rather than the WMCA general body as one general member stated that they do not have to communicate with LGED as it is the role of the President and Secretary to discuss with government agencies. The WMCA follows a bottom up approach in the sense that they contact relevant government agencies for any support that they require. Not only are they liasing with LGED to solve their water management problems, but also with the Member of Parliament as well as Union and Upazila Parishad level representatives. The WMCA mentioned how they perceived that their opinions were valued and not neglected. They emphases a strong sense of community, where the WMCA is working for the general good as peoples needs are the same; we are all related with paddy and land. They contrast the SSWRDSP with BWDB polders that are much larger and stretch past several villages with different interests across high and lowlands. They argue that BWDB polders may not lead to the equal benefits of water management, while LGED is working in a small area so that everybody benefits (WMCA FGD). This in turn is contrasted by the male LCS FGD who mentions that they do not feel there is any channel to voice their concerns and they do not feel that their opinions matter as there is a difference between people who own more land to those who own less and are therefore more vulnerable to the bagda virus.

30

7.5.

WMCA as a cooperative: Membership fees and Leasing

According to the WMCA FGD, in order to become a member of the cooperative, each new member must deposit 50 taka for a share in the cooperative and then pay 10 taka per month as savings. A member can obtain a maximum of ten shares (total 500 taka). In addition, one must reside within the subproject and it was mentioned that everyone on the subproject owns land, even among the poorer groups. As such there are no landless people and all households are members of the society. As such, they would be paying 10 taka per month for the past 15 years. The WMCA started with 486 members and there are now 482 members. Two people have passed away, while no new members have joined despite the population having increased. As a Cooperative registered under the Department of Cooperatives, the WMCA must submit an annual audit report containing information on the deposit of share savings, fees and loans. None of the respondents mentioned how the monthly contributions are collected from the over 480 members and if there had been any problems with it, or if there are any problems of defaulted loans. Through LGED data, it appears that by 2008, loans had been disbursed to a total of 952 250 taka for 550 loan takers. Only 782 700 taka had been repaid. It is not clear what percentage are loans to be repaid and what percentage has been defaulted. In terms of gender, 83,4% of the loan takers were male and only 16.6 were female. This is different from the usual micro-credit scenario in Bangladesh where women are given the loans and repayment rate is usually above 95%. In addition, the total number of members of the WMCA is listed officially as 482 in 2008, while loan takers are 550. This may indicate that several people in a household are taking loans, or alternatively that one member has taken several loans over time. In the FGDs it was mentioned that the loans are now repaid after a year rather than on a weekly or monthly basis as this did not work or have any effect. This was decided during a general meeting, where it was also agreed that interest rate is paid per month and the full amount after a year instead. However, they do not use savings money for water management. A total of 40 700 taka was collected by 2008, i.e. 814 shares a 50 taka, and 417 160 taka in savings. As such the total capital fund is 457 860 taka. Beneficiary contribution was targeted to 234 987, while the actual collected amount was 229 011 by 2008. If 10 taka had been collected every month from every WMCA member for a period of 10 years (1997-2008), the total would have added up to 578 400 taka. Adding savings with beneficiary contributions is above 650 000 taka (averaged between actual and targeted beneficiary contribution). As such, the WMCA had been apt at collecting funds from local people. However, these funds may also have appeared through the local practice of collecting 50-200 taka per bigha from landowners when funds are needed for specific activities, rather than a system of monthly collections. In the FGDs, mixed responses were given regarding the monthly fees, as 10 taka per month was the official one given by the WMCA. While other respondents mentioned that it is indeed a fee based on landholding size where the rich pay more and the poorer pay less. In addition, the funds at hand was estimated at 124 500 taka in 2008. This may indicate that savings cannot be used for operation and maintenance, as well as that loans may have been disbursed. These numbers does not also seem to indicate where the funds arising from leasing the canals is placed. The WMCA President mentioned that the WMCA leases out the three main canals (Shimanar, Rishiker and Naptir khals) to private individuals who pay a sum to the WMCA in order to cultivate fish and shrimp in them. The lease is awarded to the highest bidder who is usually from the area. A percentage of the profit from cultivation is also given to the WMCA. The WMCA then deposits the income generated from leasing to use in maintenance related activities. The WMCA EC members argued that there is no capture in the leasing and tender system. This was difficult for the field team to verify since the landless and other groups did not turn up to the meeting and we were accompanied by WMCA throughout. It was also not mentioned how much they earn from leasing. 31

7.6.

Activeness and Perception of WMCA post project

The previous sections on Operation and Maintenance showed an active, even proactive role of the WMCA. The President listed several specific points discussed during the last meeting and how they are implementing activities through funds from LGED. When they identify funding gaps they contact government representatives such as the Member of Parliament to help them acquire additional required funding. Both LCS FGDs and KIIs seemed to perceive the WMCA as active in implementing earthwork activities and operating and maintaining the gates. They had recently closed one gate (SL#2) as it was too sall and becoming inactive and are already constructing a new gate through LGED and MP assistance, the subcommittees in turn are seen as active and the funds at hand are quite substantial. The gher owners among the KIIs were also speaking of the WMCA in a positive light, where both LGED and WMCA are active. This was also collaborated by the Union Parishd Member and Chairman, as well as female LCS groups. The KII with the woman gher owner revealed that she contacts WMCA if she has any problem and that they are active in embankment repair, acquiring funding, excavating and collecting local contributions. She added that it still meets regularly on the 5th of every month and that those that do not attend must pay 100 taka penalty. Yet it seems like quite a substantial sum for poorer members. She did also mention that the WMCA is becoming slightly less active as an EC member stole 100 000 taka to 150 000 taka and escaped to India. This has then led some problems, though she did not specify. One can conclude that the Bagchar-Badurgacha WMCA seems to be active in cost sharing, using contributions and leasing to do repairs and taking full responsibility of maintenance. At the same time, the khals have dried up, while the rivers and canals are silted. The state of the embankment is poor, yet it is their responsibility to a large extent that it is in that condition. In addition, the very leasing process that generates funds for maintenance is in fact obstructing re-excavation work. This is discussed below.

32

8. CONFLICTS
8.1. Conflicts regarding the control of canals

The Union Parishad Chairman of Sobhana union plays a limited role in water management in the subproject itself due to the presence of an active WMCA and LGED. However, he noted from his other wards the problem of water logging caused by leasing of canals by influential and politically connected people. They take the leases from the District Commissioners office for 20 000 to 30 000 taka per canal for fish cultivation. They then block the canals with Pata to block water distribution. This in turn hinders drainage and causes waterlogging, this is particularly the case for Sakabai khal, Baoar khal and Khanaparia khals. In the WMCA FGD, the Vice President mentions that since it is the WMCA that leases it to fellow WMCA members, all people have access to the fish in the khals even if they are leased. The main problem of canals in Bagchar-Badurgacha seems to be more related to the land across which they flow and that landowners resist re-excavation of canals they see as their own. The three main canals of Rishiker, Simanar and Naptir are in relatively good condition and leased. There are (were), however, a total of 30 canals in the subproject running through private lands. As one businessman owning 3 acres of land pointed out in the General FGD
I will not permit to excavate the canal which has run into my land. Siltation has increased the amount of land under my ownership as the canals have filled up. If the canal is excavated then my land will be divided into two parts and reduce my land area for cultivation.

The General FGD was interesting as all the participants are pro-shrimp, own land and have quite good incomes. Most of them have private khals from their ghers and give their perspective to why they do not want re-excavation: it would either divide their land into two parts or reduce the land area. In addition, excavation occurs without compensation. The UP member also mentioned how he faces several obstacles in repairing the road and embankment as none of the landowners would like to give soil or land for this maintenance work. The problem here is that LGED operates under a framework of private ownership and constructs the embankment on private land. In terms of the canals, people are excavating canals when it suits them individually rather than collectively, though there seems to be a tendency to fill them with silt instead. As such, it seems that the WMCA is only able to engage in activities to the three canals that it leases out, rather than the other minor canals that are gradually being filled up.

8.2.

Conflicts regarding shrimp and salinity intrusion

The President of the WMCA said that there is no conflict in regard to operation since they all follow the same cropping patterns. When we cultivate shrimp, everyone cultivate shrimp. When we cultivate paddy, everyone cultivates paddy. In terms of high and low elevation fields, they have created a system of mud bads, earthen walls that protect low lying fields from when high elevation fields enter water. This is facilitated by the fact that all land is divided into ghers through mud demarcations. They argue that their paddy yields are good and that the monsoon and six months of fresh water helps prevent the damages of salinity. Our water management is khub sundor, i.e. very beautiful/nice. Similarly, gher owners mentioned that operation is working well and that they do not face any problems in water management. However, one respondent especially mentioned that many families migrated away to India as they were not able to cultivate paddy due to salinity, while the investment cost of bagda was too high. The Union Parishad Chairman mentioned that prior to 2004, there was a pro-shrimp group led by Mr Mrinal who would forcefully enter saline water across 33

Sobhana union. It is therefore not clear that natural salinity was the main reason for these families to migrate. Rather, the Union Parishad chairman points to the fact that there are many pipes in the area, where each ghers has its own pipe in the embankment. This leads to high drainage congestion and inundation of saline water.
Due to saline water 95% general people are affected. They get neither paddy nor fish. Only 10% people are benefited from this saline water. At our union, 60% land is belonged to the influential people, and the rest 40% are belonged to the small sized gher owners. /Union Parishad Chairman, Sobhana. We cannot cultivate vegetable for saline water. We cannot eat vegetable. Even if we wash our cloths but it is not cleaned. We cannot drink saline water. Even the animal also can not drink this saline water./ Woman farmer, 5 biggha, SL#1, Badurgacha Majority of the villagers of this village are poor. Paddy cultivation or shrimp culture is not profitable for us rather loss. We do not get good production of paddy/crops due to salinity. Shrimp ghers are affecting by virus, this risk is unmanageable to us. If we lose shrimp production, we must fall in debts to recover the production cost as well as to maintain our families. Paddy cultivation are becoming impossible because of salinity intrusion in all the lands of this area. Salinity intrusion is increasing due to shrimp gher. /Daylabourer, male LCS FGD, East Bagchra

The quotes above illustrate the differential capacity between different community members. Small landowners are particularly vulnerable, both the woman and daylabourer cultivate shrimp, but are wary of the risks that they entail. In Bagchra-Badurgacha, a few number of people own most of the land. Our field observations show two versions of the same story. One is that the larger gher owners have seen their livelihoods improve thanks to shrimp farming, the other is that landless, and poor marginal farmers have been forces into shrimp cultivation as salinity brought via pipes have made paddy yields unprofitable. The woman farmer, though engaged in shrimp farming and only stating positive things about the WMCA had nevertheless stated her preference for banning salinity intrusion No one can culture anything without Bagda in saline water. If there is sweet water then we can cultivate vegetable, can cultivate Goromer dhan (IRRI) and again we need not to buy fresh water fishes, we can cultivate these fishes by ourselves. Local people want to let the saline water draining stop. The cause of their environmental degradation and food scarcity is saline water. Similar concerns were voices by the male LCS group. Arguably then, the question is who does the active WMCA represent in its water management activities?

8.3.

Conflict regarding Representativeness and Voice in the WMCA

The FGDs with WMCA executive committee members indicate that the WMCA is highly inclusive and that everyone is a member. Even among the small gher owners, they stated that they were general members of the WMCA. However, is being a general member the same as participation? The WMCA President stated that approximately 50% of the WMCA are women and that all rich and poor are included in the committee. However, the general body holds very little decision making power. Most decisions are taken by the WMCA Executive Committee that consists of influential elites from rich families. In both the General FGD and WMCA FGD were the vocal respondents WMCA members and somehow connected to the executive committee. They owned from 8 acres of land to above and were mostly businessmen, school teachers, students, servicemen who would hire labour for their fields. Few were actual farmers. The WMCA President stated that he owns 70 biggha. However, one anonymous person mentioned that the formal size people say 34

they own may be much less than what is happening in practice due to legal reasons. According to him, the President owns more than double that amount. There is still a notion that those that are influential and rich are the best suitable for working in an entity such as the WMCA. Their status in society would make them suitable to manage water, though they themselves are not working directly with water. The Secretary of the WMCA, for instance, works as a college teacher. As one male LCS phrased it: If it becomes necessary of 50 persons to repair the embankment, no one listens to my word. But people will listen to the persons like the WMCA President and Secretary. They have acceptance in the society. Despite being members of the WMCA, this particular group of poor daylabourers felt that they were excluded from any real participation. They repeatedly voiced frustrations that they have no means to complain and that no one listens to them.
Though we have 2-5 bigha lands, it does not play any significant role. If they would listen to our voice, they could stop aquaculture by using saline water. All of the influential persons are practicing aquaculture using saline water. Actually, they get much benefit from this, but we are not getting anything. We are going from poor to poorer. /Daylabourer, male LCS FGD, East Bagchra

The FGD with the male LCS gives another perspective to General and WMCA discussions. They are against saline intrusion and would want greater involvement of UP, but state that this is not possible due to presence of LGED. As the LGED is active and supports the WMCA, this crowds out the Union Parishad that is against salinity intrusion. As such, one must ask to what extent the 'participation of all' is truly reflected in decision-making and that everyone in the area is well off due to shrimp. One key reason for the discontent is the substantial losses these poorer men have suffered due to bagda virus and what they see as increased vulnerability due to pipes in the polder. LGED has not managed to incorporate their needs into the design. There are only two sluice gates, drainage is not working properly and even paddy farmers create pipes so that they can let in fresh water. Clearly this engineering solution is sub-optimal, while participation in decisionmaking seems to be limited to influential and prosperous elites.

35

9. CONCLUSION
SSWRDSP in Bagchar-Badurgacha has resulted in an active WMCA and an implementing agency that has provided continuous support for more than 15 years. The three main canals are in adequate shape and the sluice gates are in good condition. However, the remaining 27 canals are increasingly silted and filling up so that they are in fact drying up. Pipes are present throughout the embankment that let in saline water for brackish shrimp cultivation, yet does not allow for proper drainage. This leads to inundation and drainage congestion during high tide and monsoons. The number of gates is seen as insufficient and may explain the presence of cement pipes. These pipes in turn weaken the embankment and increase the risk of flooding of homesteads during natural disasters. On top of this, river erosion is a major problem that each year weakens the embankment and allows saline water to topple over onto the fields. This in turn contributes to food scarcity through damaging paddy. Salinity in turn has increased and critically affected food security. Aman paddy yields are low, no vegetables can grow during Rabi season and there is no freshwater available to even grow Boro paddy. Salinity has heavily impeded food security
We could not cultivate paddy in our lands about 3 years, due to salinity. If this continues about 10 years we will also be affected by the severe poverty. If we could stop salinity intrusion, we could cultivate more paddy. The standard of our livelihood will also be improved. If such salinity intrusion continues, paddy or any other crops will not grow here. We have to import our food grains./ Daylabourer, male LCS FGD, East Bagchra

The WMCA suggested that the government provides deep tubewells for Boro paddy irrigation and makes the area a Flood Control Drainage AND Irrigation (FCDI) subproject so that it also receives assistance on irrigation. Though the WMCA executive committee members and LGED Community Organiser were particularly optimistic for the future of the subproject in the next ten years, the male LCS members voiced pessimistic visions for the future where the area will be uninhabitable due to scarcity of food exacerbated by indebtedness caused by virus attacks on shrimps. The lack of maintenance of the canals is also seen as a cause of increasing flooding during rain and high tide. This makes the lack of will of landowners to allow for excavation of canals passing through their land even more problematic as individual interests are affecting the hydrological and socio-economic condition of the subproject. LGED has been able to create a seemingly sustainable WMCA that portrays itself as active in both operation and maintenance. It exists for over 15 years since its formation and engages in both maintenance and operation. This is arguable due to the continued presence of LGED staff at the field level, annual O&M Plans and routine inspections, and continued funding through subsequent SSWRDSP phases II and III, in combination with active requests to donors such as ADB. One may therefore argue as the participants themselves had stated- that the project has never ended and that it is therefore not possible to evaluate how well the WMCA is doing after the project has ended. Nevertheless, the concept of cost-sharing seems to have been successful as the WMCA is active in collecting membership contributions based on landholding size. Yet, the condition of the subproject is poor, both in terms of the embankment and canals, while the number of sluice gates is inadequate and may have contributed to the great number of pipes. In addition, community participation in water management seem to be tied more to influential and rich elites that may not work directly with agriculture or aquaculture. As one poor respondent had mentioned, the poor have become poorer while the rich have become richer. The more influential people in the area have increased their incomes and improved both their financial and social condition. Though salinity has reduced food availability locally, they are able to buy food from elsewhere and they can afford to send their children to school (WCMA 36

President). It was also mentioned that those that could not afford to cultivate shrimp, had to sell their land and leave by migrating elsewhere. We have no information of what has happened to these community members. The WMCA President stated that they too are concerned over salinity, yet there is no feasible and equally profitable alternative to shrimp. He argued that if deep tubewells were provided for irrigation of Boro paddy, they would be interested in changing cropping systems. Currently the coastal zone is only under Flood Control and Drainage (FCD). These discussions seem to point to the interest of expanding into FCDI (Flood, Control, Drainage, Irrigation) also in the coastal areas. The participants also voiced concerns over transboundary water issues such as the Farukha Dam and were aware of the problem of depleting ground water tables. They further suggested that canals must be made wider and deeper for more effective rainwater storage. To conclude, the WMCA members thought things worked fine but wanted to have guaranteed support from LGED and donors to be able to deal with continuous maintenance problems as well as receive support for deep tubewell irrigation. However, the state of the subproject is not in an ideal state. Poorer respondents highlighted the problems of siltation, drainage and river erosion. This may indicate that the WMCAs maintenance performance is wanting nevertheless. It was suggested that all canals are re-excavated, the number of sluice gates increased and the embankment strengthened. This would include removing pipes and salinity intrusion.

37

ANNEX 1: INSTITUTIONS IN WATER GOVERNANCE

Government Agencies
Local Government Engineering Department Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) is a public sector organization responsible for planning, implementation and O&M of local level rural (as well as urban) infrastructure development programs. LGED works closely with the local stakeholders to ensure peoples participation and bottomup development. The organizational background of the LGED can be traced back to early sixties when implementation of works program (WP) was started. To administer WP nationwide, the Works Program Wing (WPW) of the Ministry of Local Government was created in 1982. It was reformed into the Local Government Engineering Bureau (LGEB) in October 1984. LGEB was upgraded as the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in August, 1992. LGED approach is to assist local government bodies Union Parishad and Upazila in the rural areas and Paurasova (municipalities) and City Corporations in the urban areas to develop and maintain infrastructure. Concerning polder areas, LGED role is taking up of small scale participatory projects in sub-polders not exceeding 1,000 ha area. Four of the nine sample study polders have on-going LGED projects. LGED has offices down to Upazila level. In Bagchra-Badurgacha, the LGED entered in 1996 to implement the Small-scale Water Resources Development Sector project and has been present there ever since. Its community organiser regularly meets and follows up with the WMCA on their various activities, while its Upazila level engineers verifies and discuss O&M plans that are then sent to the LGED head office in Agargaon, Dhaka. Union Parishad Rural local governance in Bangladesh comprises a three tier local government system of which Union Parishad is the grassroots local government institution (LGI) and its immediate upper tier is Upazila Parishad. However, to the local people in the polder area, as in the other rural areas of the country, Union Parishad is the most relevant LGI as it is closest to people. The Upazila coordinates between several unions, while the Zila Parishad is virtually non-existent. In most cases it is referred to as the District Commissioners office. Bangladesh has a total of 4,400 Union Parishads, about 490 Upazila and 64 Zila Parishad/Districts. BagcharBadurgacha comprises a part of Sobhana Union, Dumuria Upazila in Khulna district. The Union Parishad Chairman is not associated with the WMCA in any way. The Union Parishad member active in the subunit of the Union, called ward, has been active in maintenance through discussions with WMCA and local people, using rural employment schemes for funding that are allocated by the Upazila Parishad or Member of Parliament. Outside the LGED subproject, the UP representatives are active in water management committees in BWDB polders. Both the current Chairman and UP member are against unlawful salinity intrusion. In the General FGD it was mentioned that they do contact the UP for help, but both their funds and mandate are limited. The Union Parishad representatives interviewed wanted to be more active in resolving problems pertaining to water management. The UP does play an active role in liasing and coordinating with NGOs and other extension agencies on the matter of deep tubewells for drinking water, and road repairs using rural employment schemes. This is sometimes merged with repairs of the embankment, Very occasionally it may also be extended to reexcavation of canals.

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Extension agencies
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) is responsible for the dissemination of agricultural technology, information and relevant services to farmers and other stakeholders down to village level. It is the largest department under the Ministry of Agriculture having their extension officer down to village level (one extension officer called Sub Assistant Agriculture Officer for a cluster of villages called Block), but effectively up to Upazila level. On an average, three SAAOs are supposed to work in each UP, but hardly anybody is found there. In the context of polder, DAE is supposed to help farmers having irrigation, drainage, technology service, input subsidies and inter agency coordination etc. They can also help farmers mitigating conflicts regarding aquaculture and agriculture. The DAE have allocated two SAAOs for Sobhana union, though they often stay at the Dumuria Upazila office rather than visit the union according to the Sobhana Union Parishad Chairman. This may be due to the issie of high salinity and no crops during Rabi season. The UP member in Bagchra-Badurgacha mentioned that the DAE has provided fertiliser and seeds to the villagers, though this was unspecific. Department of Fisheries (DoF) The Department of Fisheries (DoF) is responsible for the dissemination of fisheries resource conservation, aquaculture technology, information and relevant services to fishers and fish farmers and other stakeholders down to village level. It is a large department under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock having their extension officer down to Upazila level. In the context of polder, DoF is supposed to help aquaculture farmers sustainable water management, drainage, technology service, input quality assurance, product quality maintenance and inter agency coordination etc. They can also help farmers mitigating conflicts regarding aquaculture and agriculture. In Bagchra-Badurgacha, the DoF has provided training on shrimp cultivation for both large and small farmers. However, the problem of virus attacks on shrimp is still a critical problem for small farmers. Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) is the national lead agency for provision of drinking water supply and waste management throughout the country excepting Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chittagong cities where water supply and sewerage authorities (WASAs) operate. With the challenges generated by the discovery of arsenic in incremental areas since its first detection in 1993, DPHE with its development partners is trying to ameliorate the sufferings caused by the lack of safe drinking water. Alternative options for safe water supply are being catered in worse affected areas. In the polder areas, the DPHE is involved in the installation of deep tube wells (since shallow tube wells are not enough to get safe drinking water), pond sand filter system, popularizing rain water storage, and provision of piped water supply etc. as per local need. In Sobhana Union, the DPHE together with the Danish donor Danida are implementing a water and sanitation project (HYSAWA) to install 188 deep tubewells at 300 feet. The Union Parishad is involved and further constructing a pipeline for supplying drinking water where deep tube-well are not successful. Pipe line will be installed maximum 11 kilometers. One tap will be used for 4-5 households. The total cost of the project will be 3 crore taka.

NGOs
BRAC, Grameen Bank, Asha, Uttaran, Proshika, Caritas and Rupantor provide loans and microcredit. Mostly the LCS groups use these services. Grameen Shakti is providing loans for solar panels on a monthly instalment of 592 taka. 39