Secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources Kabir Bin Anwar has vowed to make a serious effort to protect Rabindranath Tagore's Shilaidaha Kuthibari (bungalow). He stated this while visiting the Padma River banks damaged by erosion, in Kushtia.
“We will protect this historic bungalow at all cost,” he told reporters after inspecting the erosion damage, around 10pm, on Tuesday.
Kabir Bin Anwar told reporters: “The current of the Padma is presently flowing at an average of 3.5 metres per second. The rate of erosion is a natural process. We will look into the matter regarding whether the design of the embankment was flawed.
“Our present course of action is to use sand bags to help prevent further erosion.”
A large portion of the Kuthibari embankment on the Padma River in Kushtia, built at a cost of around Tk200 crore, started collapsing earlier this week—around three months after its construction.
Addressing the issue, the ministry secretary said: “Embankments get damaged during both the increase and decrease of water levels in rivers. Rivers such as the Padma, Jamuna and Meghna sometimes act unpredictably.
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“We will protect the Kuthibari, there is no doubt about it. When the water level drops, we will implement another embankment project in this area. ”
Director General of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Engineer Md Mahfuzur Rahman, Kushtia Deputy Commissioner Aslam Hossain, and Shilaidaha Kuthibari embankment project Director Md Moniruzzaman were present during the inspection among many other high- ups of the administration.
Bangladesh’s government built the embankment to protect a Kuthibari once owned by Nobel Prize laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, on the Padma riverbank.
River erosion began destroying the embankment in the Kalua area on September 3.
The river swallowed a 50m section of the embankment, in just moments, on the same day.
Local public representatives and people allege that the construction firm responsible for the embankment project, engaged in irregularities during the implementation of this project—and then abandoned the project in an unfinished state.
There are allegations that the embankment collapsed due to negligence by the contractorfirm.
According to sources, an embankment stretching 3,720m, on the right bank of the Padma River, was built under the supervision of the Kushtia Water Development Board, with government funding.
The contractor firm and the Water Development Board officially completed the project on June 30—albeit reportedly in an unfinished state. Of the 1,300,000 blocks built for the project, 250,000 remain unused.