Madaripur Beel Route

Madaripur Beel Route a man-made water route that shortened the distance from Khulna to Madaripur, Goalanda, Chandpur, Narayanganj, Cachar and Assam. It is also marked as Madhumati Beel Route. In 1858, Sir Arthur Cotton proposed to dig this route. In 1875 and in 1886, two corrected proposals came from Sir Breadford Lassly and Sir Richard Tamsol respectively. Sir RB Backle proposed in 1899 to connect the madhumati river near Haridaspur with the kumar at Tekerhat. According to the proposal of Sir Backle digging of Madaripur Beel Route was started in 1899. The labourers first dug the route and then it was deepen by dredging machine. In 1900 the route was opened for temporary use. The route was turned to a perennial canal in 1912 and was finally ready for navigation in 1914. As the route connected a number of beels and wetlands of Madaripur region, it was named as the 'Madaripur Beel Route'.
The route extends from the arial khan river near Kabirajpur in Madaripur district to the Madhumati river near Manikdaha in Gopalganj district. On its course the route receives the Kumar river at Tekerhat and flowing further about 35 km the route falls into the Madhumati river at Manikdaha. It is to be mentioned that in the past the course of the beel route from Kabirajpur to Tekerhat was known as the 'Upper Kumar'. The lower Kumar starts from Tekerhat.
In the past there was a marginal embankment on the left bank of the route and agriculture was possible within 24,000 ha area with seven water-structures located at Ulpur, Kangsapur, Soultali, Satpar, Bhennabari and Baniarchar on the embankment. In course of time the embankment and its water-structures faced damage. The bangladesh water development board has taken measures to reconstruct the embankment from Tekerhat to Gopalganj with a length of 40 km.
The Madaripur Beel Route is a busy river route and provides about a straight and short channel from Khulna to Chandpur, Narayanganj and Dhaka. The route shows some erosional tendency at some places. A number of islands (chars) have been developed as the route carries huge amount of sediments. As a result, navigation hinders during the dry season. The government takes regular initiatives to remove the sediments and makes the route active.
The average width of the route is 150m and it is under tidal influence. Kabirajpur, Tekerhat, Sindhiaghat, Jalirpar, Satpar, Boultali, Bherarhat, Haridaspur and Manikdaha are some important places on its banks. Tekerhat is an important river port and commercial centre.