Memorial complex at birth place of Birsheshtho Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir under threat of river erosion

Barishal Correspondent :

The 51st anniversary of the martyrdom of Birshreshtho Shaheed Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir, one of the recipients of the seven highest gallantry awards of the 1971 Liberation War, would be celebrated on Wednesday (December 14)
Under a project of constructing six multistoried houses for the six Birshreshthos , construction of Birsheshtho Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir’s family would yet to be started by public works depart under supervision of the Defense Ministry .
Mohiuddin, an officer in the army, was born in 1949. During the war of independence, he was posted as commander of the Mehdipur (in Maldah district) sub-sector of sector 7.
Mohiuddin with a plan to destroy a machine-gun bunker of the enemy, and with an SMG in his left hand and a grenade in the right, he secretly seceded from the camp.
He crawled across the road, quickly rushed towards the building and instantly threw the grenade on the machine-gun bunker.
The explosion that followed caused the machine-gun bunker to be totally dismantled.
However, an enemy bullet from a nearby two-storied building struck Mohiuddin in the forehead, leaving him dead on December 14 at Rehaichar on the bank of the Mahananda River near the then Chapainawabganj sub-divisional, present district town, just two days earlier from victory of liberation war.
Monirul Islam Mamun, nephew of Shaheed Mohiuddin Jahangir, said their house, constructed at Ichhakathi under Barishal City Corporation on Barishal-Dhaka highway in 1980, now often goes underwater whenever there is rain.
So their family members now residing at a rented house in Kashipur area of the city, Monirul added with hope that government initiative would be implemented speedily.
On other hand Manjur Rahman Bacchu, brother of Mohiuddin Jahangir, said ancestral home of Birshreshtho Mohiuddin Jahangir at Rahimganj, named as Jahangirnagor, under Babuganj upazila of Barishal district, and Bir Shrestha Shaheed Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir Memorial Museum and Library in ancestral village are now at risk.
Erosion of River Sugandha now threatens the museum and ancestral home of Birshreshtho Jahangir. So we urged the government to take immediate step to save the memorial, school, college, and the home, he said.
Sabbir Hossain, cousin of Jahangir said the authorities had put sandbags on the river banks but it was not sufficient to save the area as well as the museum from being washed away.
On other hand no permanent caretaker or librarian has yet been appointed to be take care permanently, he alleged.
Visitors hardly come here as there is no direct road communication with divisional headquarter Barishal and they return with dissatisfaction to see the poor condition of the museum under lock and key for most of the time.
Salehuddin, temporary caretaker of the museum, said there are about 4,000 books in the library.
Nothing but some copies of personal letters related to the memories of the Bir Shreshtha are in the museum, he said.
However post of permanent care taker, librarian of the museum and library was lying vacant for years. If there is no librarian, for month after month, it is really difficult to manage the books and visitors , he commented.