River erosion has turned severe in five upazilas of Faridpur as the Padma and the Madhumati rise. Strong currents are taking homes, cropland, roads, educational institutions and religious buildings one after another, leaving thousands of riverside people in uncertainty.

Alfadanga upazila is worst hit. Continuous erosion by the Madhumati has put several villages in Tagarband, Gopalpur, Buraich, Bana and Pachuria unions at serious risk; residents say about 30 acres of cropland and many homesteads have gone into the river this season. Several houses at the Chapulia Ashrayan centre have been lost, leaving families homeless and living under polythene. If the erosion continues, Charkholabaria Government Primary School, Al-Hera Dakhil Madrasa, Moksed Molla orphanage madrasa, a mosque, an eidgah, a graveyard and a post office could follow.

Along the Padma, riverside parts of North Channel and Dikrirchar unions in Sadar upazila are gripped by fear; many families are stripping tin roofs, posts and bricks from their houses before the river takes them. In Sadarpur and Charbhadrasan, new ground is going every day in Dheukhali, Char Nasirpur, Gazirtek and Charbhadrasan Sadar unions; in Bhanga, rising water in the Arial Khan and its branches is swallowing low-lying farmland and homesteads fast.

Residents say that with cropland going into the river, livelihoods are as uncertain as homes, and the suddenness of the erosion leaves many families no chance to move their belongings. Erosion turns severe every monsoon, they complain, yet no permanent solution has been attempted; dumping sand-filled geo-bags is not a long-term answer.

Md Rakib Hossain, executive engineer of the Faridpur Water Development Board, said temporary protection with geo-bags will begin on an emergency basis in the affected areas within two days. A project for a long-term, permanent embankment to protect the riverbank is in the approval process, he said, and once implemented it will bring the erosion-prone areas under lasting protection.

Residents want the permanent embankment started quickly alongside the emergency work; otherwise, they fear, many more villages, fields and homesteads in Faridpur will be lost to the Padma and the Madhumati for good — and the situation will worsen if the rivers keep rising.

Source: banglanews24