Erosion renders 150 families homeless

Erosion by the River Jamuna has taken a serious turn in four unions of Bera upazila in Pabna. Photo shows an affected village of Mashumdia union.Photo: STAR

Erosion by the River Jamuna has rendered at least 150 families in four unions of Bera upazila homeless in a week.
The affected unions are Puran Bharenga, Rooppur, Mashumdia and Dhalarchar.
Kazirhat ferry ghat and Nagarbari port of Puran Bharenga are under threat as they are now only a few metres away from the point of erosion.
Over 500 villagers have left their homesteads for safer places in fear of erosion during the period, said Md Azizul Haque Arzu, chairman of the upazila.
Char Raghunathpur, Char Lakhhipur, Char Jhaukanda and Char Kolchinakhora that surfaced in the river 24 years ago, are also facing the threat of erosion, said the chairman.
While visiting Rajdhardiar, Latifpur, Dari Sharifpur, Madhupur, Kazirhat, Notakhola and Khanpura villages of Dhalarchar union recently, this correspondent found a large number of villagers were made homeless by erosion.
Victims Sabir Uddin, Aziz Sheikh and Uzzal Hossain said they lost their homesteads, croplands and shops due to the massive erosion.
The river also devoured around 30 shops in Notakhola launch terminal area and at Khanpura Bazar in the upazila, they said.
Nagarbari port and Kazirhat ferry ghat face the threat as the river turned alarming at different points of those areas, said Md Rafikul Islam, president of Nagarbari Port Traders Association.
“We urged the Water Development Board (WDB) to protect the port and the terminal from erosion but no measures were taken so far”, he added.
Md Kabibur Rahman, executive engineer of WDB in the district, said “At the moment we cannot prevent the erosion as the water of Jamuna is increasing rapidly”.
“We will start the protection work after the fall of water pressure”, he added.
The Jamuna also took a serious turn in Najirganje union of Sujanagar upazila during the period, devouring over 30 homesteads, said upazila nirbahi officer HM Nurul Islam.