Teesta bank erosion: 150 families in Lalmonirhat fear losing homes
Nearly 150 families who are residents of the riverbank area of Teesta in Khuniagachh village of Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, are living in fear of losing homestead and cropland as a flood protection dam, which was renovated by Water Development Board (WDB) just 10 months ago, already collapsed.
The villagers have questioned the quality of WDB's work as the renovation dam collapsed even before this year's flood. They alleged that had the flood protection dam been repaired properly last year, the dam would not have collapsed so quickly.
Aslam Mia of Khuniagachh village told this correspondent that although 5,000 geo bags for the dam were prepared at the end of the flood last year, the WDB dumped only 4,000 bags in a hurry. The remaining 1,000 geo bags are lying in the sand on the Teesta river char.
Meanwhile, about 40 meters of the 300-meter dam has collapsed already.
Nizam Uddin of the same village said they are worried that their homesteads would be devoured by the Teesta erosion any time. The villagers are trying to save the collapsed dam by dumping sandbags themselves, he said.
Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila Parishad Chairman Kamruzzaman Sujan said that he had inspected the dam with the executive engineer of WDB. The Water Development Board authorities have been urged to speed up its renovation work, he said adding that the WDB authorities assured him the repair will be complete before the flood, he said.
Mizanur Rahman, executive engineer of WDB in Lalmonirhat, told said that a letter had been sent to the higher authorities concerned asking for allocation for renovation after inspecting the site of the affected dam.
"It will be repaired before the flood, and the homesteads and other infrastructures would be protected from river erosion," he claimed.
"The dam was repaired after last year's floods. Any riverbank structures could be washed away by the flow of water. But there was no irregularity in the work," he also claimed.
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