Flooding, erosion feared as very little repair work done

The heavy downpour on June 13 flooded the district town and caused breach in the Town Protection embankment at 26 points but only the one at Saheeb Quarter Park area has seen start of repair work so far.

There is no noticeable attempt to start repair work at other damaged points including those at Khagdohor, Taltola, Kathgola, Dhuladia, Zainul Abedin Sangrahashala, Kachari Ferry Ghat as Water Development Board (WDB) is showing dilly-dally attitude in this regard, local sources said.

If heavy downpour occurs in the area again, the situation will go beyond control, they said.

"One of my three houses has already been eroded due to the damage of the dyke adjacent to my house. All my ancestral properties are threatened due to the situation," said Farzana Boby Apon, a beauty parlour worker at Dhuladia of the town.

"We are passing sleepless nights fearing further damage amid the ongoing slight to moderate rainfall. We demand immediate repair of the damaged dyke at Dhuladia," said Idris Ali, a farmer who is also under the risk of losing his ancestral property at Dhuladia.

Work of the eight-kilometre embankment from Khagdohor to Bangladesh Agricultural University area began in 1998 and was completed in 2008 under the Secondary Towns Integrated Flood Protection Project funded by the World Bank.

"The repair work will cost Tk one crore. Requests for urgent help were sent to the authorities concerned but they are yet to be approved. The assessment of the damage has not been completed yet. It will be difficult to repair the dyke if water level in the Brahmaputra River marks a sharp rise," said Md Abdul Mannan Khan, superintendent engineer of WDB Mymensingh Circle.

As water cannot flow out easily after heavy rain due to faulty drainage system, it permeates the weak portions of the embankment, causing land subsidence, WDB sources said.

Earth-filling on the embankment during its construction was not done properly, said sources.