Just 18 kilometres downstream of the Farakka Barrage, the Padma's current and erosion have intensified along the Chapainawabganj border as the water recedes. In three days at least 350 homes and hundreds of bighas of cropland at Namojagannathpur and Badshahpara in Durlabhpur union, Shibganj upazila, have been swallowed by the river, leaving hundreds of people sheltering in the open and on school grounds, Ekattor TV's Chapainawabganj correspondent reports.
Locals say the river erodes every year, but this year the erosion grew several times stronger as the water fell. It continues at Narayanpur in Sadar upazila and at Namojagannathpur, Fielder Hat, Badshahpara, Bisrashia and Manoharpur in Shibganj. This year at least 600 homes and large areas of cropland in the two upazilas have been lost; several public and private buildings and a BGB camp are under threat, and mosque loudspeakers call on people to move their homes whenever erosion starts.
Mostafa Ali, 70, of Namojagannathpur, said he had lost his homestead four times in ten years before finally building a brick house; in three days that house and 14 bighas of land went into the river. Mason Merajul Islam of Fielder Hat is living with his children on a school playground. Locals Raju Ali and Rubel Ali said that in other years at least geobags were dumped in emergencies, but the Water Development Board has done nothing this time; they want a durable embankment, not relief.
Mehedi Hasan, executive engineer of the Water Development Board in Chapainawabganj, acknowledged severe erosion at the border points. A Tk 748 crore project to stop the erosion permanently has been approved and tenders for several packages completed, he said, but work could not start while the river was high and will begin as a priority once the water falls.
Shibganj upazila nirbahi officer Mazharul Islam said affected families have received relief, and that rehabilitation of those who lost their homes has been discussed with the district administration and is being reported in writing to higher offices.
Source: Ekattor TV
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