Sunday, 15 November, marks 19 years since super cyclone Sidr struck the Sundarbans coast in 2007 with winds of 240 km an hour. Its surge, about 20 feet high, broke about 25 km of the embankment of polder 35/1 at Sharankhola in Bagerhat, and more than 700 people died in 12 villages along the Baleswar river. Thousands of homes, crop fields, ponds and fish enclosures were destroyed. Nearly two decades on, the coast's main demand is still a lasting embankment.
In answer to that demand, work began in 2016 under the World Bank-funded Coastal Embankment Improvement Project on about 62 km of embankment around polder 35/1. The roughly Tk 300 crore contract went to the Chinese company CHWE. Due to finish by 2019, it was completed in 2023.
Within a year of completion, residents say, cracks and slips appeared at several points, which they blame on poor workmanship, irregularities and neglect. Without proper river training, they fear, the strong current is washing away the soil at the foot of the embankment, weakening it until the upper part collapses.
To hold back the erosion, the Water Development Board is dumping sandbags and concrete blocks at Bogi, Gabtala, Bablatala, Rajeshwar, Khontakata, Fasiatala and Sannyasi. A 500-metre river-training scheme costing about Tk 30 crore is under way at Gabtala in Sharankhola; at Fasiatala in Morrelganj some work is done but new erosion has started nearby. Shuvo Halder, a sub-assistant engineer of the board in Bagerhat, said geo-bags and blocks are being placed along a total of 875 metres at Gabtala and Fasiatala.
Residents allege irregularities in the dumping too: with too few blocks and materials, bags and blocks are being carried off by the current, so money is spent without lasting results. They want the erosion-prone points properly identified and the dumping done to standard.
Water Development Board executive engineer Joyonto Pal said that when the embankment was built under the World Bank project it stood well back from the river, but erosion has gradually come right up to it. Once a feasibility study report is submitted, a development project proposal (DPP) for bank protection will be drawn up and action taken, he said.
This report is based on a story by Nazrul Islam Akon, Ekattor TV's correspondent in Sharankhola, Bagerhat.
Photo: NASA (Jesse Allen, MODIS Rapid Response) / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: Ekattor TV
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