Erosion renders 50,000 homeless
Nine Kurigram upazilas hit in last two years
Dharla River devours a portion of a flood protection embankment in Panchgachhi union under Kurigram Sadar upazila, right, sand bags are being put into the river at Sonahat point in Bhurungamari upazila of the district to protect a bridge and its adjacent road from erosion yesterday. Photo: Star
Erosion by seven rivers has rendered over 50,000 people of 12,000 families in nine upazilas of the district homeless in the last two years. The upazilas are: Nageswari, Chilmari, Ulipur, Phulbari, Rajarhat, Roumari, Rajibpur, Bhurungamari and Sadar. Water Development Board (WDB) sources said, Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Dudhkumar, Gangadhar, Zinjiram and Dharoni rivers eroded away several thousand houses and structures in 200 villages in 35 unions in the last two years. Thousands of homeless people have taken shelter on embankments, roads or newly appeared chars (island) and leading a miserable life under the open sky. The victims alleged that no steps have yet been taken to rehabilitate them by the government or non-government organisations. Relief and Rehabilitation Department sources said, only 160 metric tons rice and Tk 1 lakh were given to the affected people of the nine upazilas in the last three months. They said at least 4,818 families were made homeless during the period ending mid-August in all the nine upazilas. Erosion was so severe that four villages disappeared overnight from the map of the district, locals said. The villages are Anantapur, Majhipara and Gaburjan of Hatia union in Ulipur upazila and Madaner Char of Sadar union in Rajibpur upazila. The rivers devoured these villages within a few hours making hundreds homeless, WDB source said. The rivers are not only devouring homesteads, they are also destroying croplands, schools, roads, mosques, embankments, other structures and trees, locals said. Last week the Dharla river eroded away about 500 metres of the local town protection embankment with in a span of 72 hours. Rajibpur UNO Abdul Kader said, Brahmaputra eroded away homes of more than 925 families this year. At least 276 families lived in Madaner Char village that vanished recently rendering several hundred people homeless. They are now passing their days in an inhuman condition as they have lost everything, the UNO said. Nageswari UNO Rafiqul Haq said no government relief was sent for the homeless families of the upazila in the last three months. WDB Executive Engineer Rezaul Mostafa Asafuddowla told the wire service that the length of erosion-prone riverbank in Kurigram is not less than 400 kilometer. At present erosion is going on in a 200km stretch on the banks of Brahmaputra, Dharala, Dudhkumar and Teesta. Revetment has been built on only 16km stretch, which is very insufficient for protection against erosion, he said.
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