Even before the monsoon has set in, the Brahmaputra River is already wreaking havoc in Kurigram.
The heavy downpour and scattered nor’westers have caused the water level to rise and trigger the erosion.
At least five villages of Jatrapur union of Sadar upazila are the worst effected.
15 families of Garuhara and Balodipara villages have already lost their land, houses and livestock. Many families are spending sleepless nights fearing the river erosion.
Villagers have been trying to protect the river banks in a make-shift arrangement but the erosion is too intense to withstand the bamboo structures.
Local people urged the Water Development Board to act immediately.
Residents of Garuhara and Balodipara Umed Ali, Osman Ali and Mamtaz said the river erosion had become worse in the last two years.
“The villages of Ghanoshyampur, Char Jatrapur, Garuhara, Balodipara and Farazipara are being gradually devoured by the mighty Brahmaputra.”
“At least 15 families have lost everything in the last 5 days. We are trying our to best to check the erosion but without the government’s help it is not possible,” they said.
Abdul Gaffar, chairman of Jatrapur union, said: “More than 800 families, 3-kilometre road and 2-kilometre flood control dam have been affected by the erosion in the last two years.”
“But the Water Development Board has taken no initiative so far,” he alleged.
When contacted, Abdul Kader, an official of Kurigram Water Development Board’s sub-division 3, told the Dhaka Tribune that the budget they had sent for building the embankment had not been approved yet.
“We have sent a Tk8.50 crore budget to the authorities to build a 1.25-kilometre embankment and a 1.50-kilometre flood control dam to check the erosion. But the budget has not yet been approved. And that is why we could not start the work.”
He, however, hoped the fund would be approved soon and the construction work could be started before the monsoon.
