Erosion Takes Serious Turn in Manikganj
700 families rendered homeless in a week
40 of 80 shelters under Ashrayan project devoured
The government Ashrayan (shelter) Project at Mylagi in ghior upazila of Manikganj district has lost 40 of its 80 structures into the Dhleshwari River in a week.Photo: STAR
Erosion by Padma, Jamuna and Dhaleswari has taken a serious turn along 25 villages of eight unions in Harirampur, Daulatpur, Shivalaya and Ghior upazilas in the district rendering around 700 families homeless in the last one week. Shelters built under of the government Ashrayan Project in Ghior Sadar has lost more than 40 of its 80 structures into the river Dhaleswari while the rest are endangered. The government erected these steel and tin structures for sheltering the homeless of the area in 2007. Abdul Halim, resident of a shelter said, "The houses were built quite far from the river. But the river washed away 10 of them last year and more than 30 others this year." Another resident Mohammad Hossain said, "The upazila officials tried to thwart the erosion by erecting bamboo fence last year but in vain. "UP chairman, UNO, upazila chairman and local MP all know about it. But they did not take any steps to save the government shelter," he alleged. Ghior UNO Raza Mohammad Abdul Hye said, "We wrote to the prime minister's office, also to Water Development Board last year, but to no effect." "We spent Tk one lakh to erect bamboo fence to save the shelters last year. This year we do not have money to do something for the poor people", he added. Ghior UP chairman Afzal Hossain Khan Joki said that he informed the authorities concerned including local lawmaker ABM Anwarul Haque and deputy commissioner (DC) Munshi Shahabuddin Ahmed of the situation. "A permanent dam is needed to save the land," he added. Over 400 houses of 18 villages in five unions of Daulatpur upazila have been devoured by the river Jamuna. The affected areas are Kashidarampur, Fakir Para, Moslem Mollar Para, Banghutia Puran Para of Baghutia union, Sooboddi, Rehai Sooboddi and Bachamara Uttarkhanda of Bachamara union, Reza Membarer Para, Kamar Para, Kathaltoli, Vote Ghar and Charkatari of Charkatari union, Barotia, Boinya, Abudanga and Jointya of Jionpur union and Ramchandrapur, Kalikabari of Chakmirpur union. UNO Khodeza Khatun said she made a list of 158 erosion affected families of Bachamara union and sent it to the DC's office and will do the same for the other areas. "We will take steps if anything sanctioned to help them", she added. In Harirampur upazila, at least 100 houses of Dhulsura union were washed away by the Padma in the last one week. Harirampur UNO Apurba Kumar Mandal said, "I wrote to local lawmaker SM Abdul Mannan and executive engineer of Water Development Board to do something for the homeless people and take steps to save the areas from further erosion." "I am now waiting for reply," he added.
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