Age-old Jamuna levee may not hold this monsoon

Nearly a 22-kilometre stretch of an age-old levee along the Jamuna river in Gaibandha's Saghata upazila remains in a vulnerable state for long and might breach during the upcoming monsoon season.

Absence of maintenance and extraction of earth by the landless who settled on the embankment, built originally in 1966, are primary reasons for the situation, said concerned citizens.

Every year, a large number of people take shelter on the flood protection levee after losing their homesteads to floods or erosion of the river. Finding no other option, most of them ultimately make the embankment their permanent home.

Many of these settlers have been causing damage to the embankment by building their houses with earth taken from it. With the authorities turning a blind eye to the imminent threat to the structure, numerous establishments, private and business, have sprung up on its sides as well as on the levee itself.

In many places, encroachment on the embankment is so severe that its original shape, height and width are hardly recognisable and even a rickshaw can hardly pass through.     

When built, the levee was around 214 kilometres long, starting in Kaunia of Rangpur and ending in Bera of Pabna, according to Water Development Board (WDB). Over the years, it was eroded or damaged at various points and alternative flood protection embankments were built in different locations.  

The remaining portions of the levee still protect a vast area of land and hence, the authorities need to put due emphasis on its maintenance and conservation, said residents of surrounding villages.

Ayub Hossain, a farm labourer of Hasil Kandi in Saghata upazila, said he has been living on the levee for the last ten years after he lost his land and homestead to river erosion.

Phul Mia, who lives on the embankment in Hasikandi area, said he made houses on the embankment for his family of four after his original house was washed away during the floods of 1988.

Rickshaw puller Shaheb Mia said he had three bighas of land in Govindapur. But he started living on the levee seven years ago, when his land along with his house was washed away by the river.

The settlers on the embankment however said no one from the authorities ever asked them to relocate.     

Saghata Union Parishad Chairman Mosharraf Hossain said the landless flood victims might be causing damage to the embankment as it has been a while since they settled on the levee.

The levee now needs urgent repair, before the rainy season. But, since the settlers lost everything, they should be rehabilitated in government khas lands before they are evicted from the embankment, he added. 

WDB Executive Engineer Mokhlesur Rahman said they sent a proposal to the higher authorities for a major overhaul of the flood protection embankment.  

They hope to start the work soon, upon the approval of the proposal and allocation of necessary funds, he also said.