Low-income people in the country are suffering because of unbridled commodity prices. Thousands of problems have been added to it at the present time. In the first week of the month of summer, Kalbaishakhi (seasonal storm) has already hit various places. In particular, the families who have settled on the Teesta embankment in Rangpur are living in extreme anxiety for fear of losing their last refuge in the Kalbaishakhi storm. With the Kalbaishakhi season looming, about 30,000 families along the river, as well as the slum dwellers in Rangpur, are spending their days in anxiety.
There are about 25,000 families in Gangachara upazila of Rangpur, two and a half to three thousand in Kaunia and about one thousand in Pirgachha. They have lost their homes due to scarcity and river erosion and have resorted to various chars or flood control dams. The people of those families are terrified of losing their shelter in Kalbaishakhi along with thousands of problems. The families who have taken shelter in the chars and dams that have lost their homes are living in fear of this weather and Kalbaishakhi season. About 25,000 families of Gangachara upazila of Rangpur have become homeless in the last 10 years by selling resources for river erosion, scarcity and various family problems. Of these, about 15,000 families have set up temporary settlements on the Teesta Char in Nohali, Kolkonda, Gangachara Sadar, Gajghanta and Morneya Union. Besides, 10,000 families have taken shelter in the 19-kilometer Teesta embankment from Morneya to Nohali. Although shelters have been officially built for the needy families, one shelter after another has disappeared due to river erosion, leaving the families homeless again. Every year, the last address of most of these homeless families sheltered in dams or chars is instantly blown away by the Kalbaishakhi storm.
Visiting the Teesta Defense Dam and chars on the ground, it is seen that homeless families are gradually building one slum after another. The Teesta embankment is under threat due to the slums. The Water Development Board could not implement the eviction notices several times but no one left the embankment. These families are living in thatched houses. As a result, even at this time of the year, they live in fear and anxiety for fear of the Kalbaishakhi storm. Mahubar, Chaleha and Phulbibi were residents of Chhota Rupai Asrayan Kendra in Morneya Union. Their address has changed as the shelter has disappeared. They are now living in Alal Char. Meher Uddin, Abdul Majed and Moshiar Rahman of the char said that their houses have been flooded four times so far. Being destitute, they now wander from this char to that char, they have no permanent address.
Chhamiul Haque, a resident of the dam area in Godown Hat area of Kolkata Union said that he and many others face the same issue. Although there were many things at one time, the Teesta dam has become a victim of river erosion. He has two huts in a family of five including three children. That means five cheap tin sheds on each house.
The house has a few shaky bamboo poles. Fence is an old bamboo mat. Chhamiul said, the family does not run properly on the income of one person. He can't afford to repair the house even once a year. "Every year our house collapses," he said of the storm season. Fatalities can happen at any time! '
According to the District Relief and Rehabilitation Office, the families living in the Teesta Dam, especially in the char areas, are living in extreme anxiety at this time of the year.
Mentioning that such a situation is also prevailing in many slums of the city, the source said that the houses of about 10,000 families are damaged by the Kalbaishakhi storm every year. Later, though, they were officially rehabilitated.