Hundreds of thousand people have flocked on the embankment of the Madhumati River in Mohammadpur upazila of Magura district to watch Nouka Baich (a popular traditional boat race).

The completion was held in the river along Sheikh Hasina Bridge on Wednesday afternoon.

Upazila kriya Sangstha arranged the competition where Dr Sree Baren Shikder, lawmaker from Magura-2 constituency, was present as the chief guest.

Among others, the district deputy commissioner Ashraful Alam, superintendent of the district police Khan Muhammad Rezwan, the upazila parishad chairman Abu Abdullahil Kafi, the upazila nirbahi officer Ramananda Pal, were present.

A village fair was also held on the occasion of the popular game.

People of different age groups — children to elderly men and women–started to throng the banks of the river to enjoy the rural traditional game since Wednesday morning which started at 4:00pm, reports our local correspondent attending the competition.

A total of 15 boats from nearby districts participated in the competition.

Boat of Abdus Salam Murshidi of Terokhada upazila of Khulna district won the race while boat of Mokhles Molla of Alfadanga upazila of Faridpur and boat of Harni Majhi of Gopalganj secured second and third position respectively.

The winners received Tk 30,000, Tk 20,000 and Tk 15,000 respectively as well as crests.

 MU/MUS