Flood-affected people decline Jamaat's help

In a gesture of aversion to Jamaat-e-Islami's politics, the people of Teesta River basin village Thangjhara in Saniazan union of Hatibandha upazila under the district yesterday forced the party activists to take back five tube-wells set by them five days earlier.
Over three hundred flood and erosion hit families from different villages of Hatibandha upazila and neighbouring Nilphamari district's Dimla upazila have taken shelter at the village recently, locals said. 
A group of Jamaat men led by Dimla upazila's Tepa Kharibari union Jamaat president Afsar Ali and member Ziaur Rahman Zia set five tube-wells at Thangjhara village on Friday, villagers said. 
"As we understood that Jamaat men donated these tube-wells for attracting villagers to their politics, we created pressure on Jamaat men to remove these tube-wells from the village and they did it on Tuesday," said Nur Hossain, 56, of the village.
Abdul Gafur, chairman of Saniazan union parishad, said, "Jamaat men set up five tube-wells although there are many working tube-wells at the village to meet the requirement of pure drinking water of the residents. Villagers understood Jamaat men's ill motive, and pressurised them to remove those tube-wells." 
Contacted, Tepa Kharibari union unit Jamaat president Afsar Ali said, they donated tube-wells for supplying drinking water to flood and erosion affected people but later removed those as villagers declined the help.
Prokash Kanti Roy, engineer of Hatibandha Upazila Public Health Engineering Department, said 76 tube-wells have already been set up at the village for supplying pure drinking water to the flood and erosion hit people.