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Sustainable dykes remedy for river erosion


Published : 28 Jan 2021 09:33 PM | Updated : 30 Jan 2021 06:13 AM

River erosion seems to have become a perennial phenomenon in Bangladesh. Myriad of people living on the river banks are being rendered homeless and destitute every year by river erosion. Farmers, fishermen and people from various other professions are losing their traditional occupations and ancestral homesteads and land.

A research conducted recently by the Centre for Participatory Research & Development (CPRD) found that over 5,000 people of  Nariya upazila alone in Shariyatpur district became displaced by erosion losing everything they had in 2018. 

Like Nariya upazila of Shariyatpur district, there are at least 109 Upazilas in 32 districts across Bangladesh which face river erosion every year.

According to the CPRD research, one of the families in Nariya had to experience the miseries at least 27 times due to river erosion. At one stage, a large number of displaced people have to shift themselves along with their families to different slums in the capital city of Dhaka or elsewhere.

Besides, a large number of rivers and thousands of kilometres of waterways have also lost their navigability due to erosion and unplanned dredging and pollution. 

Sources in the Ministry of Water Resources Development said downpour, onrush of upstream water and over-flooding are causing the river erosion rendering people homeless.

A large number of business establishments, religious and educational structures, trees and crops on vast areas are washed away due to river erosion. 

 Victims of the river erosion alleged that the Water Development Board and the Water Resources Ministry every year announce many projects to prevent erosion and protect people and their property, but all the announcements remain unimplemented. Although safety dams are being built in some areas, but these are destroyed due to their poor quality.

Meanwhile, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) last year approved a project at Tk 1,097 crore to prevent erosion. 

Besides, the government has taken different projects to construct sustainable embankments with world-class technologies and renovate the old ones to prevent river erosion in the country.

According to sources, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already directed for dredging all the rivers in the country. As per the directives of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Water Resources also started work on river protection projects in different areas.

Talking about the government planning and projects, State Minister for Water Resources Colonel (Retd) Zahid Farooq Shamim earlier said as per the instructions by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, work on river protection projects has already been started. Besides, the Ministry of Water Resources has started work on the prevention of river erosion permanently through different projects in different areas.

He said officials of the Water Development Board have already visited the eroded areas in different parts of the country and consulted the local public representatives on the implementation of ongoing development projects.

Regarding the application of world-class technologies, the State Minister for Water Resources Affairs said, a team led by Water Development Board Secretary and Director General already has visited Netherlands to see how the Netherlands authorities construct embankment and prevent river erosion. 

Additional Secretary Mahmudul Islam of the Ministry of Water Resources said to prevent river erosion permanently work has been started by adopting projects for river-based management, excluding small or scattered projects of the past. With the completion of these planned projects, it will be possible to permanently protect the people of the southern region, including Barishal, and the riverbanks of the whole country from river erosion.