The Mymensingh Town Protection Embankment, which was severely damaged by the recent heavy rainfalls, is yet to be repaired.

The downpour damaged it at three points-- Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Sangrahashala (art gallery) area, Mymensingh Circuit House and Burapirer Mazar, said officials of Water Development Board (WDB).

The authorities of Mymensingh City Corporation (MCC) and WDB are blaming each other but no proper initiative has been taken yet to repair the embankment.

The eight-kilometer embankment from Khagdohor to Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) was constructed in 2008 by Secondary Towns Integrated Flood Protection Project (STIFPP), under the funding of the World Bank.

WDB officials was sent recently an estimated budget of Tk 20 lakhs and a proposal for the repair work to the higher officials in Dhaka but no reply came till date, said Md Shamsuddoha, sub-divisional engineer of WDB.

'We will start the repair work as soon as we get the funds,” he added.

Faulty drainage system in the embankment is another cause of damage. As the water cannot flow out easily after heavy rain, it enters the gaps in the embankment and causes land subsidence, WDB said.

They said that authorities of MCC were repeatedly asked to clean up the drains under the embankment, but to no avail.

Seeking anonymity a WBD official said earth-filling on the embankment during its construction was not done properly.

Blaming the faulty and poor design, Ekramul Haque Titu, mayor of Mymensingh said the embankment face such debacle every year.

The city authority has temporarily filled the broken sites with sand bags, but that is not doing much help, the mayor informed.

Contacted, WDB engineers denied allegations of faulty design and said “The embankment has no problem at its river side and the menace is caused only for overflow water during heavy rains which has deteriorated in recent years”.

According to WDB, the embankment was seriously damaged at 26 points in 2015 and the damage was repaired with sand bags later.

Advocate Nazrul Islam Chunnu, convener of social organisation Janouddyogh, said as water level in Brahmaputra is rising, repair work will become difficult, as monsoon is in forecast.