Kirtonkhola devours market, poses threat to highway
Officials visit the spot after Kirtonkhola river devoured several establishments at a market at Charduani under charkawa union in Barisal on Wednesday night PHOTO: STAR
Barisal-Bhola Highway is in danger of being washed away due to massive erosion by Kirtonkhola River in Barisal. Erosion took serious turn on Wednesday night, eroding away a portion of Janata Bazar in Charduani village under Charkawa union of the district. The highway is adjacent to the affected area. A mosque, a rice mill and several tea stalls, confectionery, grocery and other shops situated on more than 4,000 square metres area opposite Barisal city went into the raging water. Sultan Ahmed, acting union parishad chairman of the area and Piyara Begum, member, said the erosion started suddenly at around 10:30pm on Wednesday. Within two hours, properties worth Tk 50 lakh were lost as most of the establishments were packed with goods to be sold ahead of Ramadan. Upazila Chairman Azizul Huq Akkas, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Sadar upazila Raza Mia, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Barisal Port Police Station Firoz Ahmed and Chittaranjan Adhikari, district relief and rehabilitation officer, visited the area on Thursday. They expressed the fear that a vast portion of the Barisal-Bhola Highway would be eroded at any moment, disrupting road communication of Bhola with other parts of the country, if the authorities fail to take emergency measures immediately. Locals alleged that officials of Water Development Board (WDB) are yet to visit the affected area. Contacted, Harunur Rashid, executive engineer of WDB on Thursday afternoon said he heard about the erosion and will visit the area as soon as possible. However, any WDB official is yet to visit the area till filing of this report yesterday afternoon.
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