Staff Reporter:
The unplanned and slow progress of geo bag installation in erosion-prone areas of Jamalpur’s Dewanganj upazila has triggered anger and frustration among the locals.
Already, the residents of the river bank are spending sleepless nights fearing the destruction of their houses and cropland due to erosion and flood. For this, they are blaming the local UP chairman who is responsible for the work on behalf of the contractor.
Erosion in the Patadhowa Para area, which is only two kilometres away from Sanandbari, the biggest haat of the district which has been taking place for a long time, is not stopping in any way, locals said.
This year, river erosion was severe throughout the dry season. During last year’s floods, around 26,000 geo bags were installed on an emergency basis which was not very useful in preventing erosion. At that time, hundreds of bigha of cropland along with hundreds of houses and a few villages disappeared under the river, they said.
At present, important facilities including the Sanandbarihat, Sanandbari Degree College, 25 primary schools, a police investigation centre, six secondary schools, two madrasahs, and a branch of Sonali Bank are at risk of river erosion.
After the national election this year, Noor Mohammad was elected as a new Member of Parliament and visited the area’s erosion-prone sites and took effective measures to prevent it. Water Development Board allocated Tk3.5 crore to protect the river banks. Sanwar Hossain, mayor of Jamalpur Municipality, got the job as the representative of the contracting companies M/s United Brothers and M/s Masum Brothers.
According to WDB sources, a total of 78,000 geo bags will be dropped in the 400-metre fragile area. The work started on 17 March and 15,805 bags were dropped in the first and second phases. Apart from this, another 4500 bags went into the river. The work has been stopped for some time. During a visit to the spot, the Daily Sun correspondent saw that hundreds of geo bags have been left abandoned on the river bank, no one knows when they will be installed. Moreover, the bags that have been installed earlier are being washed away by the strong current of the river.
Many locals alleged that instead of completing the work at a fast pace during the dry season, the work had been delayed till the rainy season. So, the people affected by the river erosion are not getting any benefits of the geo bag installation works.
Majedul Islam, a local resident, said “If the work continues for seven days then remains shut for the next seven days. Such a slow pace can hardly bring any benefits no matter how much money is invested for the work.”
Another local Kalim Uddin said, his 7 bigha of land has gone under the river and currently all he has left is his only house spending days in fear of losing it as well. “The way sacks are being dumped, this slow rate will not help even if the work continues throughout the year.”, he said.
Char Amkhawa union Awami League General Secretary Rezaul Karim Lovelu said “Due to the reluctance of the responsible persons and unplanned dumping of bags we are not getting any benefit and the government money is being wasted. The work is collapsing due to the geo bags being dropped continuously without the gaps. The flood has come and now hundreds of houses in several villages are under threat.”
Saiful Islam, deputy assistant engineer of the Water Development Board, said “The work remained stopped during rainfall as per the instructions of the authorities. The work is being completed properly although there has been some delay due to a month’s wait for the geo bags.”
“We told the contractor about the negligence of the UP Chairman as the representative, he has probably been removed. We asked them to appoint someone new.”
Regarding the complaint, the local UP chairman said, “15,000 bags have already been installed, the situation has come under control, the supervising engineer came and gave directions for the work. According to their instructions, the work was stopped and it is going on according to the instructions of the higher authorities. First, the sacks are filled, then the Taxforce people come and do the counting and then the sacks are installed on the river bank.”
Meanwhile, the contractor Md Sanwar Hossain Sanu was unavailable to make any comments in this regard.
The Executive Engineer of the Water Development Board Md Rafiqul Islam Khan said, “During the rainy period, the river is filled with water, and as the river is deep, there is no way to know where the bags are going, so the work has been stopped.”
Regarding the slow pace of work, he said that procedurally this work takes some time.
