Kaptai Lake is the largest lake in Bangladesh which maximum depth is 490 feet or 150 m. It is located in South Eastern part of Bangladesh which catchment area is 11,122 km square. It is a man made Lake and was created by the result of constructing the Kaptai Dam.
The Lake is famous for it’s immense beauty. Not only that, it is now the source of electricity from where most of the demands of electricity is fulfilled. The Kaptai Dam play a vital role in this. It was constructed during the Pakistan period that began in the year of 1965. The project for the hydroelectric project was funded by the United States. The capacity of water storage is of 6,477 million cubic meters. The initial part of constructing the Dam was finished in 1962.
The history behind the creation of the Lake is heart wrenching. About 1lakh indigenous people were homeless as a result of this Dam and not enough compensation was given to them by the Govt. A lot of people sought migration for their livelihood. 54 thousands acres of land went under water. The land was the source of livelihood for those people and not only that, the Chakma Raja's Palace also got drowned as a result of it along with many forests and families.
Although the Lake was created for the purpose of hydroelectric project it has now become a great attraction for the tourists and the place is visited almost in every season as the water never gets dried up. The places which were difficult to cross by feet has now become accessible by boats although the disadvantages of cutting down trees secretly and profiting with corruption is also easy than before. In the rainy season it becomes lively. The Lake has the beautiful Chitmaram Bihar by the side of it and also the Sampans of the Lake are famous in this place. It is at present serving as source of auto irrigation, fishery, navigation, food controlling as well as electricity. The Kaptai Lake contains almost all the Rangamati district in Chittagong Hill Tracts including Bagaichari, Langadu, Naniarchar, Barkal etc.
This H shaped Lake has embraced all the Karnafuli valley, Chengi, Kasalong and Rinkhyong rivers. It has not only been meeting up the demands of hydro electricity for years but also the agricultural and food demands. The serenity of the Lake is outstanding and amazing. But with time, as the pollution is increasing, it is affecting the capacity of this Lake. The necessary steps should be taken as soon as possible and otherwise a major concern regarding the living of people will be affected more. Written by Priase Chakma
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