Chalan Beel ( bn, চলনবিল) is a
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...
in the
Sirajganj
Sirajganj ( bn, সিরাজগঞ্জ) is a city in north-western Bangladesh on the right bank of the Jamuna River. It is the administrative headquarters of Sirajganj District, and with a population of 167,200 is the fourteenth most popul ...
,
Natore
Natore district is a district of Rajshahi Division located in northern Bangladesh. It borders the metropolitan city of Rajshahi, and used to be part of Rajshahi district.
History
Natore was the District Headquarters of Rajshahi from 1769 to 182 ...
and
Pabna
Pabna ( bn, পাবনা) is a city of Pabna District, Bangladesh and the administrative capital of the eponymous Pabna District. It is on the north bank of the Padma River and has a population of about .
Etymology
* According to the histo ...
districts of
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. It is a large inland
depression,
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...
y in character, with rich
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...
and
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...
.
Forty-seven rivers and other waterways flow into the Chalan Beel.
As
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...
builds up in the
beel, its size is being reduced.
History
The most important factor dominating the river history in
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
is the large proportion of silt carried by its rivers. It is the silt which has created the land and made it habitable by building it up through the centuries. It is silt which is fertilising the land, but the silt, which has been the most beneficial gift of nature, has also produced most of the river problems now confronting the people of Bengal. Silt deposited in the old river channel beds has forced them to change course, creating problems for abandoned areas while assisting in developing new areas.
The main volume of water from the
Ganges River began flowing through the
Padma
The Padma ( bn, পদ্মা ''Pôdma'') is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is sit ...
channel in the sixteenth century. Silt from the Padma helped in building up the southern portion of north Bengal. This is the most plausible explanation for the existence of a depression around Chalan Beel. The
Teesta
Teesta River is a long river that rises in the Pauhunri Mountain of eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Rangpur, and enters the Bay of Bengal. It drains an area of . In India, it flows through ...
was active in the region until it changed its course in 1787. This territory lies in between the land raised in the north by the Teesta system when it was active and that in the south by the Padma.
Another possible explanation for the depression is ongoing course changes in the Padma. In Ven den Brouck's map of Bengal, prepared in 1660, the main channel of the Padma is shown flowing through
Faridpur-
Bakharganj. There is a suggestion of another channel, possibly from an earlier time, which runs through Rampur Boalia in
Rajshahi
Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous division and district. Located on the north bank of the P ...
, Chalan Beel,
Dhaleswari and
Buriganga
The Buriganga River ( bn, বুড়িগঙ্গা, ''Buŗigônga'', ) is a river in Bangladesh which flows past the southwest outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka. Its average depth is and its maximum depth is . It ranks among the most p ...
before meeting the
Meghna
The Meghna River ( bn, মেঘনা নদী) is one of the major rivers in Bangladesh, one of the three that form the Ganges Delta, the largest delta on earth, which fans out to the Bay of Bengal. A part of the Surma-Meghna River System, ...
. At that time the
Jamuna was virtually non-existent and the
Brahmaputra
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
used to flow through its old channel.
Impact of railways
An estimate taken in 1945 found about 47 rivers and other waterways flowed into the Chalan Beel, a
watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
of about . In addition to being a
crossroads
Crossroads, crossroad, cross road or similar may refer to:
* Crossroads (junction), where four roads meet
Film and television Films
* ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa
* ''Cross Roads'' (film), a 1930 Brit ...
for the many waterways it also served as the origin for the many rivers flowing south or east that eventually meet with the Padma or Jamuna. In the early 1900s, Chalan Beel began to be hemmed in by the construction of the
Eastern Bengal Railway
The Eastern Bengal Railway (full name: "Eastern Bengal Railway Company"; shortened EBR) was one of the pioneering railway companies that operated from 1857 to 1942, in Bengal and Assam provinces of British India.
History
Formation
The Eastern ...
main line
Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to:
Transportation
Railway
* Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system
* Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
on the west and the
Santahar-Bogra branch line on the north. The natural pattern of the water's drainage channels in this area were disrupted by the obstruction caused by the railway construction since railways in these low lands had to be built on
embankments.
Flora and fauna
The banks of the beel are covered with dense stands of
kash,
babla,
nol Nol may refer to:
Surname
* Lon Nol (1913–1985), Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia
* Koen van Nol (born 1974), Dutch judoka
Given name
* Nol Havens (born 1959), lead singer of band The Art Company
* N ...
,
dhol kolmi,
simul, and
date palm
''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Eas ...
. Seven species of frogs and one species of toad represent the amphibian fauna. Chalan Beel has a total of 34 species of reptiles, including ten turtles and tortoises, nine lizards and various snake species. There are 27 species of mammals from 12 families.
Pollution
Chalan Beel has experienced the negative effects of pesticide use in the surrounding farmlands. In 2010, Bangladesh Agricultural University research, found pesticide use has increased sixfold since 1982, and the fish population of Chalan Beel has halved in the same period. A 25 kilometre highway constructed on the Beel has divided into two and caused havoc on the fish breeding by disrupting their movement. Commercial
overfishing
Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...
, grill and drag net and other destructive fishing have harmed the fish population.
References
{{Rivers in and around Bengal
Wetlands of Bangladesh
Geography of Rajshahi Division