Take care of embankments
With 70 villages under water now, repair of damaged embankments is the first priority for the people of Khulna's Koyra upazila.
The strong wind from the super cyclone Amphan on the night of May 20, accompanied by the tidal surges of rivers ravaged thousands of homes, educational institutions, farmlands and trees in the upazila.
About 40km out of the 121km embankments, which protect Koyra from water of major rivers such as the Kopotakkho and Shakbaria, broke down at least at 21 spots. Around 80 percent of the upazila got flooded as a result.
On Thursday noon, this correspondent visited the affected areas of the upazila, including the worst-hit Horinkhola, and saw 54 families of the Hindu community collecting whatever belongings they could salvage from the water and moving away to another place.
Debobroto Kumar Mondal, a resident of the Horinkhola, said they were moving because the Kopotakkho river flowing across the area still has high, threatening tides.
"We urge the government to repair the embankments as soon as possible. We do not want relief, we want the [repair of the] embankment," Debobroto pleaded.
Locals of Koyra on their own have started to repair the embankments damaged in the cyclone. Because of the flooding, they have to build dams 300 metres inland from the original location, at many places.
As a result, about 50 bighas of land along the rivershore will be inundated permanently.
Bithika Mondol, who lost her home in the cyclone, said her family is going to lose three bighas of land lying on the outer boundary of the dam built by the locals.
"The river would gradually devour the land," she explained.
Although the local administration so far distributed 50 tonnes of rice, 500 packets of dry food and Tk 75 lakh among the cyclone victims in the upazila, many are yet to receive any relief.
"Nobody came to give us food yet as it is very hard to reach our village," Debobroto alleged.
He said the water resource minister visited the area on Thursday but only gave a speech from a speedboat.
'LACK OF COORDINATION'
People of Koyra alleged that dams, first damaged badly on May 25, 2009 from cyclone Aila, have not been repaired properly in the last 11 years.
The Water Development Board (WDB) of Satkhira district is the custodian of the dams that fall under the Khulna district.
According to Water Development Board sources, on May 25, 2009, 60km of dams in Koyra were completely destroyed by Aila.
After the damage, locals were trapped in salt water for three years.
Although WDB repaired the dams, locals alleged that the custodian used more sand than soil while repairing the structures on 13/14 and 14/2 polders along the Kopotakkho and Shakbaria rivers. Thus, the embankments were left in poor condition.
Imtiaz Uddin, general secretary of Koira Unnayan Sangram Samiti, complained of irregularities and lack of transparency in the repair works.
Tk four crore in 2018-2019 and Tk three crore in 2019-2020 were allocated for embankment renovation but no signboard was displayed during the development work, he said.
"Although the site of the embankment is in Khulna, the maintenance is the responsibility of Satkhira Water Development Board. As a result, local MPs and upazila chairmen are not able to supervise the work properly."
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shimul Kumar Saha of Koyra admitted that there was a lack of coordination.
"We don't get them [Satkhira WDB officials] at the coordination meetings. So, we cannot discuss the possible solutions of the problem with anyone," he said.
"I have informed the higher authorities about the prevailing situation."
GM Mohsin Reza, president of Koyra Upazila Awami League and former upazila chairman, said the main contractor for the repair work was never seen in the area whenever the embankments were built.
"After he got the job, he sold the work to another contractor on a fixed commission. The second contractor divided the work into smaller parts and handed it over to other contractors. After this change of hands, only 40 to 45 percent of the [government] allocation was left to do the work at field level. People of the Water Development Board were also involved in this," he alleged.
Noting that the people of Koyra upazila have suffered more from Amphan than Aila, Akhtaruzzaman Babu, MP of Khulna-6 constituency, said he did not get enough time to take up the embankment renovation issue since he took office early last year.
Executive Engineer of Khulna Water Development Board Satkhira-2 Md Arifuzzaman said 40km of dams have been destroyed in Koyra and locals are repairing it voluntarily.
He denied allegations of irregularities in dam construction and repair.
When asked about using more sand than soil in the dams, the engineer said, "We hand over and accept the work from the contractor as per the tender and schedule, so there is no scope for any irregularities."
Arifuzzaman blamed natural calamities and high salinity in the local soil for the weak structure of the dams.
Comments