Old Brahmaputra onslaught continues in Mymensingh

Erosion by the Old Brahmaputra River has made some 100 families of 20 villages homeless in Sadar and Gouripur upazilas of the district in the last two months.

The most affected villages are Char Nilaxia and Char Bhabakhali in Sadar upazila, and Bhatipara, Bhangnamari, Gazariapara, Kashiar Char, Morichar Char, Namapara, Taanpara and Bottola Bazar.

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Many people living in the villages alongside the Brahmaputra have alaready shifted their houses to safer places, sources said.

Locals said a vast tract of crop land and hundreds of homesteads had been devoured by the Brahmaputra River in the last couple of years. They demanded construction of an embankment to protect thousands of families living beside the Brahmaputra River.

Small farmers like Moyez Uddin and Ramzan Ali, both from Bhangnamari village, told this correspondent that they have been victims of river erosion for years.

"We have to pass sleepless nights because of the fear of erosion when the rainy season starts," lamented the farmers. "If this trend is not checked, we will face a disaster in the near future," they added.

"Many have become victims of river erosion this year, and it has been happening for years," said Fazlul Haque Sarker, chairman of Bhangnamari union parishad in Gouripur. "No effective step to check river erosion has yet been taken to save the hundreds of poor and marrginal farmers," he added.

The field staff of Water Development board (WDB) have already visited the erosion sites and we have submitted a report to the authroities concerned for funds to start work, he added.

Contacted, Durre Shahwaz, Gouripur upazila nirbahi officer (UNO), said he has asked the chairman of the concerned union parishad to shift the people vulnerable to river erosion.

Officials of the local administration have also visited the erosion sites, the UNO added.