10 villages in Khagdahar union of Mymensingh Sadar upazila have become vulnerable to erosion because of sand lifting by illegal dredgers in Brahmaputra river. Erosion has badly damaged arable lands and housing while posing risk to mosques, markets and educational institutions.
At least 500 sand workers, meanwhile, have become jobless because of the illegal sand lifting act and are now living a miserable life with family members.
We have been living here for ages but now the unhealthy competition among sand traders are taking a heavy toll on our lives, said Md Lal Miah, a resident of Kismat village in the area.
Although the traders are making money by lifting sand and supplying that across the country, this has put people in our area at a disadvantage, Lal Miah said, adding that nearly 500 workers who use boats to lift sand have now lost their jobs.
Another villager Sirajul Islam said the only road used by residents of Kismat, Taragai and Kalyanpur villages had developed cracks because of frequent movement of sand-laden trucks.
“The road stretching from Ghunti of Khagdahar to Begunbari needs to be paved and repaired. A dam should also be constructed there,” he said.
Stating that the general people, especially students, using the road are now at risk, Sirajul said almost 5,000 people living close to the banks of the river could become homeless during the rainy season. “Illegal sand lifting should be stopped immediately to avoid that disaster.”
Moslem, a driver by profession, said they had written to the deputy commissioner two years before about the danger they could face but that seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.
Villagers have mentioned several names who they say are involved in the illegal sand lifting trade. Among them are Ataur Rahman from Kismat village, Asadul, Alamgir, Esaq Ali from Char Jela Khana road, Jahangir, Alamgir from Khagdahar village, Tapan, Bacchu Miah, Farhad Ali from Taragai village and Musa Miah.
Sand worker Rustam Ali said use of dredger to lift sand had been disadvantageous to them because they cannot keep pace with machines.
“Dredgers can lift tonnes of sand in a very short period but we only do that using our hands while on boats. This is why we have become almost redundant and are losing our jobs fast. We used to make Tk300-400 a day after manually lifting sand from the river and selling it to sand traders. Now, the story is different as machines have replaced us. We are suffering from extreme financial woes,” the worker explained.
Apart from lifting sand and using pipelines to carry it to the banks of the river for storing, dredger owners are also directly selling to contractors every day by using trucks as the means of transport. While a truck of sand lifted manually is priced at Tk800-1,000, dredger owners are selling the same amount of sand for Tk500-600. This has, like sand workers, put many traders, who store manually lifted sand, out of business.
Ataur Rahman, one of the many who uses dredger to lift sand, however, has shrugged aside all the allgeations against them, saying they are complying with the rules to lift sand. He said no disharmony exists between them and the sand workers.
“Workers are lifting sand from places suitable for them. I’m not aware of any incident where workers were resisted to work or were assaulted,” he observed.
There have been movements against the use of dredgers to lift sand but to no avail, said Nurul Islam Nur Munshi, president of Mymensingh District Sand Workers Union, and its general secretary Makbul Hossain.
“Ironically, the more we staged movements, the more dredgers were installed. The situation continues unabated. Moreover, there were attacks on innocent workers that destroyed their boats and they are now living in impoverished condition,” they added.
Mymensingh District Sand Traders Association president Md Ali said movements against illegal sand lifting and sand trade from Rammohon to Darikushtia had become stronger as the issue had been brought to the attention of multiple workers’ rights bodies.
Deputy Commissioner Mustakim Billah Faruki admitted illegal sand lifting using dredgers and promised necessary action against the wrongdoers.
“Mobile courts have fined some traders involved in this illegal practice and have even sentenced to prison. Nonetheless, the activity cannot be stopped entirely,” he said.
