At the beginning of the monsoon season, erosion has started in the Padma River banks of Rajbari district. As a result, in the last few days, an area of about 300 meters, including thousands of cc blocks made of concrete used to protect the river banks, has disappeared. If the demolition continues like this, the locals think that the city protection barrier will be threatened.
Locals complained that every year, promises are made to prevent erosion, but no action was taken. But the Water Development Board says they are working to prevent the breakdown. On Saturday, erosion started at 6 am in Sonakandar area of Mizanpur Union, 1.5 km from Rajbari town. Later, for the second time, at around 3 pm, a rupture occurred in the Maulvi Ghat area.
On closer inspection, it was seen that the CC block made of concrete in an area of 40 meters near Char Dhunchi Government Primary School, 200 yards from Godarbazar, had disappeared into the riverbed. The erosion began while the second phase of the Padma River City Protection Dam was underway.
In this, several houses including Char Dhunchi Government Primary School in the area are under threat. Besides, Rajbari Shahar Raksha Dam is also under threat of erosion. According to the Water Development Board and local sources, various villages of Mizanpur and Barat Union of Sadar Upazila have been washed away by the erosion of the Padma during the monsoon season for almost a decade. Thousands of people have lost their schools, mosques, madrasas, mosques, bridges, culverts, houses, orchards and crop lands due to the erosion of this river. The families affected by the river erosion have lost everything and are living in a new address without eating anything.
Earlier, on July 18 (Friday), 20 meters of river was eroded in Godar Bazar Charsilimpur area and on July 26 (Tuesday) about 200 meters of river was eroded near Godarbazar NGL brick kiln. The block collapsed at three points less than two months after the completion of the project site on the river bank. Later, the water development board stopped the erosion by dropping CC blocks and geo-bags.
The victim Chad Ali said, I have already lost 3 houses in the erosion. I am living in a house with a tin shed on the next land in the dry season. But again, Padma will take away the last place in river erosion.
According to Water Development Board sources, the right bank protection work of Padma River Shahar Raksha Dam in Rajbari was started in June 2016 to protect against erosion (Phase II). The project was started at a cost of Tk 452 crore in a total area of seven kilometers including two and a half kilometers of Godar market part of Shahar Raksha Dam. The cost of the second phase is Tk 38 crore for four and a half kilometers and Tk 6 crore for the first revised 1527 meters. 49 lakh cubic meters of dredging has been done in 6.3 km section for the project. Md. Zia, a local on the bank of the river, said that the river has been eroding for several days now. After a while, an area of 40 meters on the bank of the river broke and entered the school. There is a mosque and hundreds of houses that are now under threat.
The school authorities have removed the necessary furniture in panic as the river is only 10 meters away from Dhunchi Government Primary School.
Dolena Sultana, headmistress of Dhunchi Government Primary School, said that important documents and goods have been removed after talking to the school authorities. However, chairs, tables and benches are not being removed now.
Abdul Ahad, executive engineer of the Water Development Board, said the erosion started around 6 am. Sand filled geo bags and tube bags have been dumped on an emergency basis to control erosion. Work is still ongoing.
