About 40 metres of the Water Development Board (WDB) embankment at Mollabari in Botbunia, Dacope upazila, Khulna, collapsed into the Dhaki river on Sunday, 11 October, flooding a wide area. Slides and cracks in the embankment at Khona in Botbunia and Pankhali unions now threaten homes, roads and farmland, the Daily Bangladesh reports.
Resident Asad said people have watched the river eat into the land for about 30 years, and the embankment breaks once or twice nearly every year, letting water into the villages. Many homes and about 300 bighas of farmland have gone into the river. Last year a breach at Botbunia washed away transplanted aman rice and fish from ponds.
Rashedul Islam Babu, member for ward 8 of Pankhali union, said the embankment in front of Khona Mollabari cracked on 2 October and half the road has since fallen into the river; repeated appeals to the WDB have brought no permanent fix. At Khona, in polder 31, a large part of about 100 metres of road has collapsed, and erosion continues at Jaber's ferry ghat, Kaminibasia, Garkhali, Andharmanik, Gunari in Sutarkhali, Kalabagi bazar, Banishanta and Telirkona bazar.
Residents say the embankment also breaks at the spring tides of the new and full moon, and blame poorly planned, low-quality repairs. They also allege irregularities by WDB officials and contractors.
Dacope upazila executive officer Borhan Uddin Mithu said risky sections will be repaired quickly in coordination with the WDB. Md Rashidur Rahman, executive engineer of Khulna WDB Division 2, said the vulnerable spots have been inspected and work will start soon. Residents want lasting protection against erosion as well as emergency repairs.
Photo: the ferry ghat at Pankhali, Dacope, Khulna. Photo: Ferdous / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Daily Bangladesh
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