The landless afraid of being homeless again
As many as 150 families sheltered at Ashrayan-2 project in Digholia upazila are living under threat of erosion.
Under the name 'Dokkhin Chandonimahal Ashrayan Prokolpo', a total of 150 houses were built eight years ago beside the Atai river, filling up government land with sand in South Chandonimahal village of Senhati union.
With five houses in each row, there are 30 rows, identified as barracks. Residents of Barrack 16 were evacuated recently when a sizeable portion of it, about half, was damaged due the erosion of the Atai.
Residents of the adjacent row, Barrack 15, are now passing days in fear of further destruction by the river.
Dilip Biswas, a former resident of Barrack 16, said seven months ago, after seeing first signs of erosion, he along with his five family members moved out of the barrack and took shelter in a neighbouring barrack.
The Atai washed away his and several others' houses within a few days after they evacuated the barrack.
"I used to live in a hut by the river as I didn't own any land. After the Ashrayan project was developed eight years ago, I got a house for My family. But now, my house is lost to the erosion of the river and I am homeless again," he lamented.
Barrack 15 resident Mrittunjoy Mondal said when the project was completed, the river was a few hundred feet away. But unexpectedly, about two years ago, the river started eroding its bank beside the Ashrayan.
After a significant portion of the project area started to disappear in the river, "we went to many places, including to the offices of the chairman of the local union parishad and the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO), and sought protection from the erosion. But no one came forward to help us," he alleged.
Although the authorities started dumping geotextile sand bags alongside the project area six months ago, the Ashrayan residents cannot stop but worry about what would happen to their shelters when the water level will rise in the river during the upcoming monsoon.
Many of the residents this correspondent spoke with said the Ashrayan project in south Chandonimahal village was destined to be a failure as it was built on sand near close proximity of the river and it lacks a proper drainage system.
During every wet season, sand from the project compound washes into the river, making it susceptible to further erosion. And for these reasons, most of them were worried that the entire Dokkhin Chandonimahal Ashrayan Prokolpo might disappear into the river sooner or later.
Jayanti Roy, president of the residents' association at Dokkhin Chandonimahal Ashrayan Prokolpo, said they approached the administration multiple times, urging steps to protect their homes, but "no one listened and nothing was done".
"The residents of the project would not live in such risk if due steps were taken in due time to prevent the erosion," he added.
Contacted, Gazi Ziaur Rahman, chairman of Senhati Union Parishad, said they informed all authorities concerned, including Water Development Board (WDB), about the erosion a long time ago.
He also said the WDB has recently started taking steps to protect the area from river erosion.
Polash Kumar Banerjee, executive engineer (in-charge) of WDB at Khulna Division-1, said a large amount of sand, with which the land of the Ashrayan project was filled, is being washed away when it rains heavily or the river's water level rises.
It might be quite difficult to save the Ashrayan project from erosion due to the sand foundation of the project, but they were trying to contain the erosion by using geotextile sand bags along the river.
The WDB has prepared a Tk 198-core project to prevent erosion of the Atai river along 4.50 kilometres of its bank in the area and around Tk 10 core of the funding would be spent on protecting the Ashrayan project, he added.
Comments