Repair embankment- cum-road immediately

WE are concerned to note that more than 5,000 families of Sehakathi, Balaikathi and Badura villages in Patuakhali Sadar upazila are undergoing tremendous hardships as a dyke damaged by tide almost six months ago is yet to be repaired. Over a 500 feet long flood control embankment cum road at Balaikathi village collapsed in July last year, obstructing communications of the villages from the Sadarupa zila parishad and district headquarters. The school children of the two areas are also suffering as a result.

The damage to the river embankment has also affected over 500 acres of cultivable land, which is now under saline water, negatively impacting aman cultivation.

Despite repeated pleas to the upazila development committee, Water Development Board (WDB) and Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), bureaucracy and inefficiency on the part of the authorities are stalling the much-needed repair process. This unwarranted delay also highlights the authorities' lack of concern for the plight of the common people in the villages of this country.  

We urge the government to treat the issue as a matter of urgency. If the repair work is not completed during this dry season, the difficulties of villagers, who already lead vulnerable lives because of river erosion and salinity in the area, will be compounded in the next season.

Instead of pointing the finger at other departments and shirking responsibility, the relevant authorities must work in coordination with each other to solve the looming crises in the area.