Jamuna devours 30 houses, vast croplands
Over 30 dwelling houses and vast croplands have gone into the Jamuna at Pashchim Jotgari village in Sirajganj's Chowhali upazila as the river suddenly started massive erosion there on Thursday.
“The areas on the Jamuna bank started going into the riverbed around 10:00am on Thursday and over 30 houses and a few hundred bighas of cropland were devoured within 24 hours. Over a hundred more establishments including schools, mosques and houses face the threat of erosion,” Sirajul Islam, a primary school teacher of the village, told the journalists during their visit to the spot on Friday.
“The massive erosion in around 500-metre area of the village also threatens the Tk 109 crore under-construction flood protection embankment. The Water Development Board (WDB) did not conduct timely protection work in the area,” said Liakat Ali, vice chairman of Chowhali Upazila Parishad.
“Most of the affected people did not have enough time even to shift belongings from their houses as the erosion started suddenly. Many other people in the adjoining areas are now shifting their houses in the face of erosion threat,” said schoolteacher Sirajul Islam.
Md Mahfuzur Rahman, executive engineer of Tangail WDB, said, “The erosion occurred due to the recession of water. Our workers started dumping sandbags in the affected area this morning and now the erosion has come under control. The WDB men are continuously working to prevent erosion.”
During the last three decades, the Jamuna has claimed 85 percent land area of Chowhali upazila, reducing its 210 square-kilometre land area to a little over 30 square kilometres.
The upazila is one of the worst affected areas due to river erosion in the country.
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