Locals disoriented by river erosion in Sunamganj

Severe erosion has occurred in Dhopajan River flowing through Surma Union of Sunamganj Sadar Upazila. In the meantime, hundreds of homesteads and croplands on the banks of the river have been destroyed. About 100 families have lost their houses and lands and become destitute. The only road of four villages has gone under the river. Local residents are disoriented due to continuous river erosion.

Local people said that hundreds of boats, including bulkhead, houseboats and speedboats of Tanguar Haor, travel to Surma, the main river of the district, through the border river Dhopajan. It always has huge waves in the river. Besides, this border river has a strong current due to the Asha Pahari landslide from upstream, which is directly hitting the river banks. Besides, locals complain that the erosion has increased day by day due to illegal extraction of sand by dredger machines in the river at night.

Sadarghar village of Surma Union of Sadar Upazila in Sarzmin can be seen the terrible picture of river erosion. All the belongings of the house are being removed due to the fear of erosion, there are big cracks in the house.

Residents fear that several villages of Surma Union will become non-existent if effective measures are not taken to prevent erosion. Their complaints are repeated to the concerned but no effective action is being taken.

Locals alleged that an officer of Sunamganj Water Development Board had taken thousands of rupees from the villagers by saying to protect the soil by leaving the block.

In this regard, a local named Mohammad Shah Golam Hossain Burhan said that the government has taken thousands of rupees for the demolition of the block. But it didn't work. The river is collapsing and disappearing. We are not able to break the house and leave here. Water Development Board ate money, but did not work.

He also said that Hemant is actually illegally extracting sand and soil from the mouth of the river by using dredger machines at night. Due to this, river erosion is intensifying.

Ripa Begum, another victim, said, “We are very helpless with children for the river erosion.” In the face of our orders, the government has not done anything for so long. 20 years ago I lost everything in a river flood. The house I am in now will also go to the river anytime. I can't sleep at night. Now we do not have the ability to go anywhere else.

One named Mohammad Abdul Rahman said, where do we go? I have nothing but this place. There is not even a penny of the money to make a house in any other place. All our land is lost due to river erosion. No one has given importance to the matter.

Ayatun Nescha (50) of Sadarghar village is living in the flood-affected area with her sick husband and two daughters. He gave the money to the water development board officer with interest in the hope of protecting the land. But an official of the Water Development Board did not fulfill that hope of drinking Ayatun even with money. He told RisingBD, I used to bring interest money and give it to the government house (to an official in the water development board office) to block this river. I paid 3 thousand and 6 thousand rupees. Other people in our area have paid 5 thousand, 6 thousand rupees. They said they would give the block but they didn't.

However, despite trying to contact the accused official of the Water Development Board office, he could not be found.

In this regard, Sunamganj Sadar Surma Union Parishad member of Ward No. 1 said. Afsan Pervez told RisingBD that we have applied to the Water Development Board, MP at various times to prevent river erosion, but they have not taken any action to prevent river erosion. The suburban ward is actually very neglected. There are four villages here, the headquarters are Amirganj, Amirpur, Kurutla.

He also said that hundreds of houses have already been destroyed due to river erosion. Erosion is still ongoing. Now you have to travel by boat, there are no roads.

However, Sunamganj Water Development Board executive engineer Mamun Howladar attributed the three-phase floods of this year as the reason for the river erosion.

He told RisingBD that there were three floods in Sunamganj this year. Due to these three floods, the rivers of Sunamganj have been eroded in various places. Out of these we have identified about 11 places. In these 11 places, about 8 km length of erosion has been observed. The most important of these breaks is our seven hundred meters. We have given a demand of Rs. 45 crores to implement the all-ready works for these seven hundred meters. If we get funding, we will work here.

Locals have complained that the government has no role in preventing river erosion for 20 years, besides, several residents of Sadarghar village have complained that an official of the Water Development Board took money for installing blocks in the river. In response to the question whether they will look into the matter or not, Sunamganj District Administrator and District Magistrate Mohammad Rashed Iqbal Chowdhury told RisingBD, “We have not received such a complaint before.” Now that this complaint has come we will look into the matter.