A section of influential people are lifting sands illegally from the bank at Gajirpur Char Point of Meghna River adjacent to Bhola district town, intensifying the threat of river bank erosion.
Rampant sand lifting from the river also puts the Bhola Town Protection Embankment under serious risk of breaking down.
Paying no heed to the repeated plea of the locals, they are continuing the act with high-powered dredger and doing brisk business.
The syndicate of sand traders allegedly belonging to ruling Awami League (AL) have continued the unscrupulous act for over a month.
During a recent visit to the area, the Dhaka Tribune found that a number of dredgers were engaged in lifting sand in the area.
A dredger can lift at least 25 to 30 cubic feet of sand in a day, said workers at the dredgers.
With lifting of sands, holes are created in the river bed. There is a possibility of displacement of the Cement Concrete (CC) blocks of the embankment due to holes, a senior official, who preferred not be named, at Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) in Bhola, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“With the displacement of the CC blocks, the risk of breaking the embankment becomes high,” he said.
Locals informed the matter for several times to local administration expressing their concerns over the risk of erosion.
The issue was also raised in the meeting of the district development committee at the conference room of the deputy commissioner’s office in Bhola in November last year.
Bhola District Deputy Commissioner M Selim Reza told the Dhaka Tribune that they have not given lease of sand field to anybody in the district. So lifting of sand is illegal.
“If anyone lifts sand from the river, legal action will be taken after proper investigation,” he said.
The district administration, however, conducted several drives against the sand lifters since November last year. But the drives could put almost no impact on the activity of the illegal sand traders.
In a recent move, the district administration conducted a drive led by Magistrate M Masudur Rahman on February 14 this year.
During the drive, police detained 16 people with two dredgers and a sand carrying cargo.
The detained were Jakir Hossain, M Liton, Ibrahim Hossain, M Sohag, M Foejul, Rabiul Islam, M Mohasin, Matiur Rahman, Abul Kalam, Babul Islam, Shakif, Khalilur Rahm, Yakub Ali, Farid Uddin, M Mizan and Al Amin.
Magistrate M Masudur Rahman asked the Detective Branch of police file a case with Bhola police station against the people.
However, Bhola police station Officer-in-Charge (Investigation) Kamalesh Chandra said no case was filed in this regard and the detained people were not taken into police custody.
On condition anonymity, a sub-inspector of Bhola DB police, who was involved with the February 14’s drive, said the arrested were released as there was no specific allegation against them.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, many high officials of the local administration and police said they cannot strong action against the sand lifters as they are backed by highly influential politicians.
