Photo: Collected
A boat race will be held tomorrow, Saturday, on the Kaliganga river in the traditional Beutha area of Manikganj. On this occasion, competitors have begun arriving with boats from different areas of the country. Already the khella boat named ‘Mayer Doa’ has arrived from Roumari in Kurigram and anchored at Beutha ghat.
The boat’s manager, Mojibur Rahman, said the boat set off for Manikganj via the Brahmaputra river on the morning of 30 September from Baguarchar village in ward no 5 of Bandaber union in Kurigram’s Roumari upazila. Crossing various river routes, it reached Beutha ghat on the Kaliganga river in three days.
He said this is the first boat race for the ‘Mayer Doa’ boat, which is made of Indian sal wood. The boat was built over one year at a cost of about Tk 6 lakh, and they are 100 per cent hopeful of winning in its very first competition.
The organisers said boats of four categories from Roumari in Kurigram, Nagarpur in Tangail, Santhia in Pabna and various upazilas of Manikganj will take part in this year’s competition, including khella, goyaita, ghasi, chhipa, chhandi and pansi boats.
Masud Parvez, member secretary of the boat race conduct and management committee, said tokens will be handed over to the representatives of the participating boats from the announcement stage at 10am on Saturday. The qualifying round for ghasi and khella boats will begin at 12 noon, while chhandi and pansi boats will take part directly in the main round.
He further said there is an 8 cft refrigerator as a special prize for all the boats participating in this year’s race. There are also attractive prizes for the three winning boats in the four categories.
In the khella/goyaita boat race, a 100cc motorcycle will be given as the first prize, a 16 cft refrigerator as the second prize and an 11 cft refrigerator as the third prize. Refrigerators have also been kept as the second and third prizes in the qualifying round.
Manikganj-3 lawmaker, Food Minister and district BNP convener Afroza Khanam Rita is scheduled to be present as the chief guest at this traditional boat race. At the event, organised by the district BNP, the special guests will be Manikganj-1 lawmaker SA Jinnah Kabir and Manikganj-2 lawmaker Engineer Mainul Islam Khan Shanto.
With committee convener Advocate ATM Zahir Alam Khan Lodi in the chair and member secretary Masud Parvez conducting, the event will be attended by Deputy Commissioner Nazmun Ara Sultana, Superintendent of Police Mohammad Sarwar Alam, Zila Parishad administrator Advocate Jamilur Rashid Khan and leaders of the district BNP and its affiliated organisations.
