Chenghi erosion threatens Hawkers' village
Workers are busy in making vermicelli in an unhygienic condition at a factory in the Chaktai area as the demand for the item has increased ahead of Eid-Ul-Fitre. The photo was taken on Sunday. Photo Anurup Kanti Das
Erosion of the river Chenghi has taken a serious turn threatening 150 families at Hawkers village of APBn Muslimpara under Sadar upazila in Khagrachhari. The Chengi has the lone road connecting the Hawkers village with district headquarters and left several thousand people of this village almost detached from the mainland Khagrachhari as well as other parts of the country. River erosion narrowed down the road to such an extent that children and elderly people can not walk over it. Some 100 children of the village are not going to school due to such condition of the road while the elderly people do not come out of the house in the evening, said the villagers. Neither Khagrachhari Municipality nor Khagrachhari Hill District Council took any project to save the road from river erosion and restore road communication with the village despite repeated request, they said. Mohammad Arif, a newspaper hawker said they appealed to the chairmen of Khagrachhari municipality and Khagrachhari Hill District (KHDC) on several occasions since 2007 to save their village from the river erosion. They said they can't take any initiative to repair the road as it needs a big project involving a huge allocation. “The 15 feet wide road by now has reduced to some two and half feet. The villagers temporarily repaired the road with bamboos in October last year. But, bamboo protection collapsed due to on rush of hilly water on June 12 this year. We are now in a helpless condition since we can not afford construction of any brick-built retaining wall to save our village or homesteads from erosion,” he added. Mohammad Sujan, also a hawker, said they have requested the chairmen in vain to visit the affected area to witness the sufferings of the villagers and take step accordingly. Hawker Mohammad Shipon said it is very difficult for them to communicate with the district town through the risky road while primary school children have stopped going to schools during the rainy season. “Elderly people even can not go to mosque to say prayers after dusk,” said Shipon, urging the authorities concerned to renovate the road and mitigate their sufferings. Hawker Promod Dey said some 10 houses have been devoured by the river in the last two months while some 15 more houses of hawkers at risk of falling due to erosion any time. When asked, Khagrachhari Municipality Mayor Mohammad Joynal Abedin said municipality can not take project like river training or construction of embankment. He said he has not visited the hawkers village as he could do very little for the villagers in this regard. He said he has submitted an application to KHDC chairman to take a project to save the people from river erosion under the municipality. Khagrachhari Hill District (KHDC) Chairman Kujendra Lal Tripura said he told the villagers few days back that there is no scope to include a project for the river protection as the projects have already been finalised for 2010-2011 financial year. He said he has asked the Khagrachhari Hill District Council chief engineer to take up a project to save thousands of people in these areas from river erosion.
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