Six villages under threat due Agunmukha River erosion

Barishal Correspondent :

Some six villages of Panpatti union are under threat due to the speedy erosion of Agunmukha River and the market and launch ghat already on the way to be eroded away at any time at Galachipa upazila of Patuakhali district.
The erosion of the Agunmukha River advancing speedily to Panpatti Bazaar, Launch Station of Galachipa Upazila. Part of the Panpatti road has already disappeared and six other villages of Panpatti union are under severe danger of eroding away. So local people are engaged in moving their homes and shops to save from erosion.
From August this year, severe erosion started on the banks of Agunmukha river has been still going on. In the last two years, Agunmukha swallowed a big part of the market. This year, the fish market has started to be eroded away again. The Launch Ghat RCC road eroding came to the bank of Agunmukha.
According to the locals, Bangladesh Water Development Board once dropping some geo- bags completed their duty, but failed to prevent erosion of Agunmukha River. So people living on the banks of the river spending their days under panic and fear.
Sub- assistant engineer in charge of BWDB Galachipa upazila Miraj Gazi said, 820 meters of embankment and road over embankment in Panpatti launch station eroded in two last years. Then 320 meters of dam prevented by dropping geo bags.
BWDB Patuakhali district executive engineer Arif Hossain said, the rivers in Patuakhali district are highly prone to erosion. Among them, the position of Agunmukha at the southern end of Galachipa is almost at the top. Agunmukha River is directly connected to the Bay of Bengal, so it has taken a fatal form. Plans have been made to protect the vulnerable areas by constructing embankment on Agunmukha river bank and work will be started after receiving allotment.
Panpatti Union Parishad chairman Masud Rana said vast Panpatti union in last two decades is now a small village. About 500 meters of the one kilometer road from Panpatti to Launch Ghat has been lost in the river. Besides Geo-bags have been dropped to protect 10 km from Kharida to Tulatali village on the embankment, but even that failed to prevent erosion.
Panpatti launch ghat is important for connecting two upazilas, Galachipa and Rangabali, through launch, trawler or speedboat by crossing Agunmukha and ghat also at the verge of extinction.
Jalil Sikder, an hotelier at Panpatti Launch Ghat, said that they are every year Agunmukha is suffering from erosion. In the meantime, his hotel has been moved 9 times and his house in the nearby village of Tularam also under threat of eroding.
Local heroic freedom fighter Elias Mia said, in the stormy waves of Agunmukha, the Panpatti area is disappearing. Panpatti is one of the prominent fish markets of the district. If erosion is not prevented, the market will collapse.
Local businessmen and residents called WDB to take quick action in this regard.