The low-lying flood plains of the haor region in Bangladesh’s north–east account for roughly 30 percent of national crop output — primarily Boro rice, the year’s main harvest. Each year, flash floods from the hills devastate swaths of this crop and disrupt the wider food supply. Authorities build embankments in the haor region every year to mitigate these losses.

In Sunamganj, the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) started work on the latest crop-protection embankments on December 15. The project was scheduled for completion by February 28 under the standing regulations. Officials now say they could only finish 80 percent of the work by that deadline. Amid a persistent threat of flash floods and an early monsoon, the government has extended the project timeline to March 15. Farmers on the haor edges fear their crops could be wiped out in flash floods before then.

Leaders of the haor movement said that if corruption causes crop losses, those responsible must be held accountable.

The government is building 602 kilometres of embankments across 53 haors in 12 upazilas of Sunamganj to shield the Boro harvest. It has allocated BDT 1.48 billion for the work, which began on December 15 through 718 Project Implementation Committees (PIC).

BWDB officials insist the embankment work will be finished before the extended deadline, an assessment that farmers and activists campaigning for haor rights reject. They say overall progress on the embankments has barely reached the halfway mark.

On-site inspections in the Dharmapasha, Madhyanagar, Derai and Shalla upazilas found that while earthwork on many embankments is complete, turfing, slope protection, compaction and grass planting have yet to be finished. Some embankments still require earthwork. At the closures, earth filling is complete but carpeting is still pending.

Local PIC members involved in the work say they are not receiving interim payments commensurate with the work completed. Many now lack the funds to press ahead and finish the work properly.

Farmers in the haor region point out that no major disaster has struck since the floods of 2017. That, they say, is why the state of the embankment work has not yet had serious consequences. But if an untimely flood arrives, they will be ruined. The slow pace of construction could spell disaster for those living on the haor’s edge.

Suleman Miah, a farmer beside the Dekhar haor, said he is cultivating several acres of land. “This land is all I have. If I get the rice, my children and I will have something to eat and we can survive. But we’ll be in trouble if the embankment work isn’t finished fast. The water will enter the haor when the river rises.”

Another farmer, Sunnat Ali, said: “We just want the work finished quickly. We want the haor to be safe until the harvest. We have no other demands from the government.”

Experts note that the haor residents’ livelihoods are tied directly to the embankments. Oversight must be tightened and accountability enforced, they say, while ensuring that PICs complete the work on schedule.

Leaders of organisations campaigning for haor farmers maintain that the work is still only half done. They argue that the BWDB’s figures do not match reality on the ground.

“The February 28 deadline was missed. There has been massive sloppiness this time. If the haor is flooded because of it, the people responsible will have to answer,” said Obaidul Haque Milon, the general secretary of the Haor O Nodi Rokkha Andolon.

Bijan Sen Roy, general secretary of the Haor Bachao Andolon’s central committee, pointed out that delays plague the embankment work every year. “It’s happening again. If the authorities’ negligence destroys the crop, we’ll mobilise farmers to protest and we’ll consider legal action.”

Data from the BWDB in Sunamganj show that embankment work is scheduled for 53 of the district’s 95 haors. For repairs and maintenance, the board has formed 666 Project Implementation Committees.

For the 2025-26 fiscal year, the government has approved 705 projects under the KABITA policy to build crop-protection embankments in various haors across 12 Sunamganj upazilas. It has allocated BDT 1.37 billion for the construction. Although the work was inaugurated across the 12 upazilas on December 15 last year, it could not begin in all haors because of delays in water drainage from the haors and in forming the implementation committees.

Mamun Howlader, executive engineer for the Sunamganjn WDB, told Bonik Barta that the 13th general elections, held on February 12, caused some delay. “The timeline has now been extended by 15 days. The work will be finished before the new deadline.”