Despite all the money spent on repairing and restoring the embankments, in Khulna people are suffering, as the embankments collapse every now and then.
Not only does the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) spends crores on embankments but even the locals in the coastal region of Koyra have have taught themselves to invest and repair the embankments to keep themselves protected.
On August 14, volunteers repaired 200 meters of broken area in Charamukha area of Koyra in the Sundarbans. The BWDB supplied geo bags, gunny bags, bamboos and geo fabrics which amounted Tk10 lakhs. Meanwhile, the ministry wants an allocation of Tk1,20,00,000 for a 1km area of the embankment.
The leaders of Koyra said that in the last 10 years, in the name of emergency work, the cost of improvement and construction of embankment in Koyra had been shown to be more than Tk142,58,00,000. However, it did not actually benefit the people.
BWDB Satkhira-2 Executive Engineer Md Shahnewaz Talukder said that in the last three years only Tk24 crore were spent on repairing the 50km embankment in Koyra.
He added that the 122km embankment of Koyra is under risk.
Every year, around 10-15kms of the embankments are required to be repaired, he said, adding that river erosions occur frequently so it’s necessary to fence the embankments to protect them.
The ruling Awami League’s Khulna district unit Treasurer Engineer GM Mahbubul Alam said that the lack of bamboo and bags caused obstacles in the repair work of the August 14 erosion. The equipment provided by the Water Development Board was not enough.
Aktarul Islam of South Bedkashi village said: “The water has entered my house due to river erosion and we have nowhere to go and no way to cook.”
Local UP member M Masud Rana said that 10 villages of South Bedkashi union were submerged in the water on August 14. Three thousand bigha shrimp enclosures were washed away while 15,000 people were trapped in the water.
Imtiaz Uddin, general secretary of the Koyra Development Struggle Coordination Committee, said the suffering is due to the negligence of the authorities.
He alleged that in the last 10 years, over Tk142 crore was spent on repairing the embankments but they did not sustain due to irregularities in the projects.
Every year, thousands of people in Koyra are left homeless due to river erosion. They are forced to take shelter on the street sides or on someone else’s land.
In the coastal regions, over 250,000 people struggle with the consequences of river erosion.
