57 structures devoured by Kirtonkhola in 3 days

The Charkaua Union Parishad building, like many other structures, is now threatened by Kirtonkhola erosion. PHOTO: STAR

The BIWTA ferry pontoon was shifted yesterday morning.

At least more 300 structures including a hospital, a community centre, Union Parishad office, a madrassha and a school are now threatened with erosion that started on Wednesday.

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The sudden catastrophe has made several hundred people homeless.

The affected people have demanded immediate steps to stop the erosion and threatened to block navigation in the river by forming a boat chain.

They alleged that the erosion on the eastern bank of the river started in 1985. Since then cores of taka were spent in the name of embankment protection and rehabilitation of victims.

But nothing tangible has been done to protect the area due to alleged corruption, they said. They blamed the Water Development Board (WDB) for this.

The affected people in the area earlier formed a body called Nadi Vangoni Bastuhara Samity (association of erosion-affected landless people).

Talking to this correspondent, its leader Lal Mia Chisti said hundreds of families are being affected in Charkawa area every year due to erosion by the Kirtonkhola. But any permanent and effective project is yet to be taken up by the authorities.

The affected people are also not given any government help for rehabilitation, he claimed.

The only assistance they received was Tk 500 per head, given recently by Barisal City Corporation Mayor Majibur Rahman Sarwar MP, he said.

Mentionably, the WDB dumped concrete blocks in Charkawa in 1986-87 to protect the area from erosion. But those were washed away in the following year.

When contacted yesterday, WDB officials said its Executive Engineer Hedayetul Islam was in Dhaka and they were not authorised to say anything.

WBD sources told this correspondent ten days back that they had prepared a Tk 1.37 cr proposal to protect the Kirtonkhola embankment and sent it to higher authorities in Dhaka, but got no response.