Barishal Correwspondent :
Markets, roads, mosques disappearing due to river erosion in the Amrajuri Union of Kaukhali Upazila under Pirojpur district at the estuaryof the Sandhya, Gabkhan and Kacha rivers.
Although the Water Development Board is currently throwing geo bags into the river at a temporary cost of about 4.7 million taka, but it is not able to stop the erosion.
Pirojpur Water Development Board Sub-Divisional Engineer Abu Jafar Md. Rashed Khan said, “We are conducting a study for a permanent embankment of about 1,500 meters on both sides of the ferry pier and currently the work on the embankment is underway at a cost of about 4.7 million taka on temporary embankments.”
In recent week at the Amrajuri Ferry Ghat area onthe junction of Swarupkathi and KaukhaliUpazilas, has been hit by river erosionis now in a state of existential crisis.
As a part of the Kaukhali-Shekherhat road has disappeared into the riverbed, people of PurbaAmrajuri, Magura village of the upazila and Shekherhat village of the adjoining Jhalokathi district are facing extreme hardship in their travel.
Besides more than hundred business establishmentsincluding , homes, agricultural lands, and mosques,educational institutions and other establishments on both banks of the river have been submerged or already eroded in the riverbed.
More than a kilometer of the Kaukhali-Shekherhat road next to the market has collapsed and disappeared into the river.
?After visiting the area it can be seen that about 1000 meters west of Amrajuri Bazar has been affected by the erosion of the Sandhya River.
?According to local sources, a ferry runs from Amrajuri Ferry Ghat every day from PirojpurSadar to NesarabadUpazila via Kaukhali.
Locals complain that the Pirojpur Water Development Board has taken initiatives to prevent erosion at a cost of about 1.5 crore taka in the last one year, but it has not yielded any real benefits.
?A trader in Amrajuri Bazaar, Md. Shahin said that river erosion occurs every year as the Amrajuri Ferry Ghat area is the mouth of the Sandhya and Gabkhan canals. Erosion has been increasing for several years. My shop has had to be moved three times in a year due to river erosion.
