Ujjwal Roy, Narail District Correspondent : Several hundreds of families have been disoriented due to the breach of Madhumati river in Shalnagar union of Lohagra upazila of Narail. Due to severe erosion, the arable land, soil and supporting resources have already been lost in the river bed. Even the pole of power supply line has been destroyed in the river. The people of these damaged areas are constantly living in fear. Ujjal Roy, Narail district representative said, on Saturday, this terrible image of destruction can be seen around the country.
Locals said that the people of that place have been victims of Madhumati river’s collapse several times. Last year, the water development board of the union threw geo bags to prevent the collapse of Shirbar village, but now they are floating in the collapse. As a result, hundreds of families are facing collapse again. Therefore, the local residents want a permanent solution to prevent the destruction.
Local Tota Mia, Saddam, Alauddin, Balam, Chunnumia, Afzal Molya, Humayun Kabir, Arfin Molya, Osman Munshi said that their houses have repeatedly collapsed under the river due to the collapse of the Madhumati river. They have become destitute as the river breaks. Their settlement has come to the edge of the river. Due to the way the river has begun to erode, they have doubts about when the settlement will disappear into the river bed. If the house is destroyed, they will not have a place to hide their heads.
Tota Mia of Ramkantpur village of the union said that their 5 bigha land has been lost in the river. So far he has suffered 3 breakdowns. This time standing on the verge of collapse. He does not know what to do. He called for swift action by the authorities to prevent the collapse.
Old man Arfin Molya said that apart from the residence, their arable land, betel nut garden, pond along with 5 bighas of land has been lost in the river. Now he has lost his head and is living by building a house on other people’s land. That too is on the brink of collapse. After that, they do not have an address where they will stay with their wife and children. The old man cried while saying this. Tahmina, the wife of Balam Molya, said that their house has been destroyed by the river 2 times before.
Local UP member Ashiqul Alam said that houses, arable land,
Madrasas, mosques have been destroyed. If this continues, the entire area will disappear under the river. He sought the immediate intervention of the concerned ministries including Whip of the National Assembly and Member of Parliament for Narail-2 Mashrafe Bin Mortza to prevent the Madhumati river from breaking.
In this regard, Narail Water Development Board Executive Engineer Rakibul Hasan said, “There is currently no allocation for the prevention of demolition of Ramkantpur village in Lohagra Upazila, due to which I am unable to do any kind of work”. However, if the allocation is received, work will be done to prevent damage in that area in the future.
