Golam Rasul of Nimtala village in Godagari, Rajshahi, once had five bighas of land, mango, lychee and lemon orchards and more than 30 buffaloes. Padma erosion has taken nearly all of it. He now owns two or three kathas; half the brick house he built for Tk 2 million seven years ago is in the river and the rest is at risk, so he and his wife live in a small hut on a neighbour's land, The Daily Star reports.
Only three of his buffaloes survive; about 20 died suddenly four or five years ago. He used to farm his land and graze buffaloes, he said, and now the land is gone. He has had no help from the government and no geobags have been dumped near his house. Others with land elsewhere have moved, but he has nowhere to go.
Nimtala was once home to 200 to 250 families; year after year, erosion has taken homes, a temple and fields. Neighbour Prashanta Kumar Mondal said five to seven more houses fell this year. Upazila figures show 188 families in Godagari were affected by erosion in the five years since 2021, and 91 received help.
Arifur Rahman Ankur, executive engineer of the Bangladesh Water Development Board in Rajshahi, said erosion struck areas outside the bank-protection project, and also at Char Asharidah across the river; urgent sites were dealt with, but allocations do not cover every area.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Israt Jahan said officials saw two houses partly hanging over the river at Nimtala and asked for geobags, which are in the water board's estimate. Affected families with their own land will get tin sheets to rebuild; those without must apply for a settlement, and they have been asked to apply for compensation but have not yet done so. Houses built without foundations on loose Padma sand, she said, will not be saved permanently by geobags.
Source: The Daily Star
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