<i>When self-help is the only help</i>
People at Ujan Bochagari village in Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha district render voluntary service to build a bamboo-made structure to protect the area from erosion by the Teesta River.Photo: STAR
Residents of Ujan Bochagari village on the bank of Teesta River in Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha district have been able to minimise the gravity of erosion by Teesta River by constructing bamboo spars through voluntary work. During a visit to the area on Tuesday, this correspondent found that villagers, both male and female, were working to erect bamboo spars along western bank of the River Teesta. Their efforts saw an immediate success as it has saved them from the threat, at least for the time being. Sundarganj Upazila Parishad Chairman Waheduzaman Sarker inaugurated the self-help programme last week. After the erosion turned about 500 families shelterless and threatened over six hundred others recently, villagers repeatedly urged the local authorities of Water Development Board (WDB) to take steps for checking the erosion but to no effect, said local people. Finding no other way, the villagers formed a self-help organisation styled Haripur Kheyaghat Bhangon Protirodh Committee with Asger Ali as president and Devendra Nath Roy as secretary. "With the villagers' donation in cash and kind, we started the work. Subsequently the fund rose as more people joined the initiative for their survival. We have already erected seven bamboo spars along the erosion-prone area, spending Tk 45,000 in addition to voluntary labour. One of the spars has been washed away by the surging water," said Devendra Nath Roy, secretary of the committee. Last year devastating erosion wiped out cultivable lands, structures and homestead of Kamarervita village rendering over 1500 people homeless, he added. "We have already informed the higher authorities of the situation and a scheme is being prepared for checking widespread erosion in this area. The work will start as soon as we receive approval of scheme and fund," said Mir Mosharraf Hossain, executive engineer of WDB in Gaibandha.
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