Flood control dyke on verge of collapse
Flood control dyke on verge of collapse
Thousands fear losing homesteads
Erosion by the River Jamuna has devoured large portions of the flood control dyke at two points in two unions of Shariakandi upazila, threatening collapse of the dyke any moment.
The river turned furious in Rohodaha area under Kamalpur union and Adbaria area under Kutubpur union in the last couple of days.
Water Development Board (WDB) sources said the flood control embankment is on the verge of collapse as breaches have developed at at least two points of the dyke.
And due to the heavy current, WDB men are unable to reach the breaches for dumping sand bags at those points, added the sources.
WDB sources said that the boats cannot reach the points with the sand bags brought by the contractor's men of the WDB, and because of that they can not prevent erosion there.
The Adbaria Government Primary School, surrounded by a 4 km-long flood control dyke built at a cost of Tk 9 crore and another 6 km-long flood control dyke between Kutubpur and Kamalpur unions, are on the verge of collapse due to the erosion.
Locals feared that if the erosion continued in such pace, thousands of inhabitants of those villages would be homeless.
WDB sources said, they have already started constructing a 2.1 km-long ring dam at an estimated cost of Tk 1.63 crore on emergency basis, as only three feet of the old dyke remains intact.
Contacted, Nurul Islam, executive engineer of WDB in Bogra, said the town protection dyke is now in worst condition and it may collapse any moment at any of the two points.