Villagers render voluntary service to check river erosion
The people of Char Sajai village of Kodalkati union in Kurigram's Rajibpur upazila are working to make bamboo fencing at their own initiative for saving the area from erosion by the Brahmaputra River during the upcoming monsoon.
Encouraged by Aminur Rahman, a local youth, villagers joined the voluntary work as promises from the local public representatives and the administration to build an embankment to check the erosion remained unfulfilled for years.
Locals provided bamboo and financial assistance and a group of youths started work to make bamboo pilings on Thursday.
Fencing will be made on a 500-metre area at an estimated cost of Tk 4,000 and the work will hopefully be completed within a few days, Aminur Rahman told this correspondent.
"Every year a large area is eroded by the river while we got only promises for construction of the embankment. And so, we are trying our best to save the area with bamboo piling," he said.
Although this method is not fully effective to check erosion, it helps to minimise the damage, he added.
"We contributed to the work to save our houses, arable lands and crops from erosion," said Hanif Uddin, 58, of Char Sajai Purbapara village.
Dwellings, cultivable lands, orchards and important set-ups eroded and a large number of families became homeless and landless due to the river erosion at different places of Rajibpur upazila, including Uttar Kodalkati, Paikartari, Ballabhpara, Sajai Karigar Para and Shankar Madhabpur villages of Kodalkati union, said locals.
Appreciating the initiative of Aminur, Kodalkati Union Parishad Chairman Humayun Kabir Chhakku said, "A project to build the embankment has been submitted to the Ministry of Water Resources but it is yet to be approved. I am making every effort to get the project approved."
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