Erosion threatens Sonahat bridge in Kurigram
Erosion threatens Sonahat bridge in Kurigram
52 houses of a village devoured in two days
Erosion by the Dudhkumar River has taken a serious turn, threatening collapse of Sonahat Bridge anytimein Bango Sonahat union in Bhurungamari upazila.
Following onrush of water from upstream in the last two weeks, the river swelled and within a span of two days from Saturday, devoured at least 52 dwelling houses of Bharater Chhara village.
Sonahat Bridge, its connecting road on the western part, Bharater Chhara Government Primary School and at least 60 more dwellings at the village are in serious threat of erosion, said locals.
People in the area urged the local administration several times to take steps to save the connecting road. On August 16, they suspended vehicular movement on the bridge for around three hours to press home their demand.
In Jatrapur union under Sadar upazila, around 450 families have lost their homesteads due to the erosion by the Brahmaputra River.
About one kilometre of the river embankment from Farajipara to Garuhara village has already been devoured in last two weeks, said chairman of Jatrapur union parishad Abdul Gafur.
Besides, another half a kilometre of the dyke, No 2 Jatrapur Government Primary School, a mosque and several dwelling houses in the union are also facing erosion threat, said locals.
Abdul Kader, Acting Executive Engineer of the WDB, said they were dumping sand bags to save the bridge from possible collapses.
To protect the two and half kilometre area from erosion we had placed a project proposal of Tk 14.8 cores to the ministry concerned. However, we got only Tk 30 lakh, the WDB official said.