Sirajganj Town Protection

Capital dredging of Jamuna suggested

21 August 2011, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

Main flow of the river Jamuna directly hitting the Sirajganj town protection embankment has to be diverted through capital dredging to save the structure from caving in, said the probe committee yesterday. The committee placed its report at a meeting at the water resources ministry recommending prohibition of plying heavy-loaded transports on the embankment as a short-term remedial action. Alongside, regular maintenance and necessary repairing of the embankment structure was recommended. The government formed the five-member probe committee led by Dr Monwar Hossain, executive director of Institute of Water Modeling, after almost 7,500 square feet of the embankment collapsed on July 18. As for long-term remedial action, the report suggested on making intervention surrounding the Sirajganj town so that the main flow of the river Jamuna does not hit the embankment directly making it vulnerable. Also, removal of a char, which developed under water just opposite of Sirajganj town, was recommended to take pressure off the protective embankment, the report said. The probe team said water whirls in Jamuna is making bigger scour holes in the riverbed near Sirjaganj town which is the main reason behind the recent damages to the structure. Ramesh Chandra Sen, the water resources minister, said capital dredging is the only way to train the river Jamuna, the world's largest and most unpredictable braided river. The government has already taken up some capital dredging projects in Jamuna, he added. Only a decade old, the Sirajganj town protection embankment was constructed by the Korean construction company Hyundai spending around Tk 400 crores. The probe team, in its primary findings, found the design of the embankment structure to be faulty.