Sr. Staff Reporter, Kishoreganj :
Hundreds of establishments at Bhairab Port town in Kishoreganj are facing threat of erosion in the river of Meghna bank. Several structures including 20 mills with 100 meters of land and a part of the Jamuna Oil Company have been lost in the river.
Syed Nazrul Islam Road Bridge, Habil Abdul Halim Railway Bridge and Zillur Rahman Railway Bridge built at Bhairab Bazar and the areas near Meghna are under threat. BADC godown, Padma, Meghna and Jamuna oil depot are under threat as the erosion continues. The port town Bhairab Bazar may disappear under the river if the erosion is not prevented soon.
It is known that the upstream water of haor flows through the Meghna river and meets the sea at Chandpur. The water level of Bhairab’s Meghna river has increased due to the rains of the last few days, but it was in a stable condition, according to sources in the Water Development Board office. The flood water of several districts including Comilla, Noakhali, Feni is flowing through Meghna in Bhairab. As a result, the flow of water has increased. The erosion occurred last Tuesday midnight due to strong current and waves of Meghna water in Bhairab. The eruption started at around 3 am. At that time, many people were asleep, before they knew anything, one by one the raw houses, Zamuna oil retaining walls, houses of worship and oil pipelines disappeared into the river. After dawn, many people broke their houses and moved to safer places. A 50-meter bypass road goes under the river in the erosion. Many complain that this erosion has occurred due to illegal extraction of sand from the river.
Earlier in 1988 and 1998, 50 acres of Bhairab Railway along with hundreds of houses, 10 acres of offices and 30 market houses were lost under the river due to the current and waves of Pramatta Meghna. Even if the government has built a dam to protect Meghnapar, it is not able to stop the erosion. Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Chief Engineer (CE) Md. Asaduzzaman and BADC’s high officials visited the spot.
Alea Begum, Piara Begum, Rozina and Majnu Mia said that we were sleeping at night. Suddenly the porter of Jamuna Oil Company woke us up. Although we managed to save some family members, we lost everything. Now we have no place to hang our heads. There are 60 families in this area. Out of these, 20 families have become homeless.