State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque said that work will start soon to prevent river erosion to alleviate people's grief.
He said this while speaking as the chief guest at a gathering in Ludhua Ghat area of Kamalnagar upazila after inspecting the ruptured banks of Meghna River in Ramgati and Kamalnagar Upazila of Lakshmipur on Friday noon.
He urged people of the planning ministry to come to the field and see the grief of the victims of river erosion and assured local people that he would take immediate action to prevent river erosion in Lakshmipur.
Kamalnagar Upazila Awami League President Nurul Amin Master presided over the gathering while local MP Abdul Mannan spoke. Director General of Water Resources Department Aminul Haque, Chief Engineer of Water Resources Department Zahirul Islam, Deputy Commissioner Anjan Chandra Pal, Superintendent of Police Kamruzzaman and others were also present at the time.
The State Minister further said that the matter is under the watchful eye of the Prime Minister. In this regard, a DPP worth Tk 3,200 crore is stuck at the Planning Ministry. If it is passed quickly, work will start soon and the grief of river erosion will be alleviated before the onset of the next monsoon.
It is to be noted that a number of news coverage in Bangladesh Post has attracted the attention of local and state level officials. As a part of this, the highest level officials of the concerned department including the state minister visited the eroded area of Meghna River.
The recent catastrophic erosion of the Meghna broke the embankments of the new Sadar Upazila Burirghat and Charkalkini of Kamalnagar and the north-west Alexander of Ramgati Upazila, causing extensive damage to 26,000 hectares of Aush, Ropa Aman and seedbeds. About 50,000 farmers were affected.
Due to lack of embankment, people of the area are spending sleepless nights in fear of collapse. Thousands of crores of taka including government and non-government facilities, houses, crop lands, religious and educational institutions have been lost in the river.
