Erosion of Jamuna: Over 300 houses disappear in few weeks
Residents of Shahjadpur and Chowhali upazilas in Sirajganj are now facing two back-to-back calamities -- first the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and now the devastation of their homesteads and croplands by the Jamuna.
The Jamuna has turned unseasonably fierce in the last several of weeks and devoured over two hundred houses and various other structures in Koijuri, Jalalpur and Sonatani unions of Shahjadpur upazila.
Sultan Mahamud, chairman of Jalalpur union, said Ghatabari, Baoikola and Pakortola villages in the union alone saw devastation of more than a hundred houses during the period.
Sonatani Union Parishad Chairman Lutfar Rahman said over a hundred homesteads and acres of croplands have been lost to the river's unseasonable erosion in Sonatani and Koujuri unions.
In Chowhali, more than a hundred houses and acres of croplands in five villages of Khaspukuria and Bagutia unions were devoured by the river in the past several weeks.
About a four-kilometre stretch along the Jamuna in Dakkhin Khaspukuria, Mituani, Rehai Pukuria and Charbinanai villages in the two unions is affected the most while about one and a half kilometres of a road was damaged in the area, said locals.
Abul Kahar Siddiquee, chairman of Bagutia Union Parishad, said three mosques, a school and the market in Dewanganj are now under threat of erosion.
Chowhali Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Dewan Moudud Ahmed, however, said he has reports of 25 to 30 houses being damaged already and one school and a road are under threat of erosion.
In order to stop the erosion, the Water Development Board (WDB) has taken initiative to dump sand bags in a hundred meter-long area along the river, the UNO also said.
Contacted, AKM Rafikul Islam, sub-divisional engineer of WDB in Sirajganj, said the rapid swelling up of the Jamuna ahead of the monsoon and accompanying strong winds are causing the unseasonable erosion.
"The Jamuna river never swelled up this time [of the year] so quickly. The enormous pressure of water flowing down from upstream is causing the erosion. We are dumping sand bags regularly in the affected areas. But we need permanent work for its protection," he added.
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