Erosion onslaughts turn deadly in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila

Erosion by the Teesta and Dharla rivers keeps intensifying in many places of Lalmonirhat sadar pazila for the last few weeks with the water level rising and falling due to heavy rainfall and onrush of water from the upstream of the neighbouring country.

Erosion is gobbling up vast tracts of cropland and many homesteads within a short span of time.

Ceaseless soil erosion has been shrinking geographical maps of Mogolhat and Khuniagach unions of the upazila over the past few years.

In the face of the disaster, thousands of families have already migrated from their ancestral homes to safer places with their valuables, including domestic animals like cows and goats.

Many of them have started residing beside the flood protection dam after losing their homesteads and farmlands. During a recent visit, it was seen that river erosion was wreaking havocs in Khuniagachand Gokunda, Sarkartari and Choymatha of Mogolhat union of sadar upazila.

Especially erosion has taken severe turn at Kalmati ,Harinchara, Premer Bazer, Khalaighat , Rajpur , Bongram Itapota and Bumka under sadar upazila of the district.

Local sources said 15 homesteads at Gokunda and several acres of crops land in other areas have been devoured by river erosion.

Basonti Rani, wife of late Shuresh Chandra, said once they had nearly 20 bighas of cropland of their own but all the land has been devoured by eroding Dharla River in the last two decades. Now they are marginal farmers losing all the arable land. Like them, Nuruzzaman, Roish Uddin and many others have lost their croplands and homesteads and turned into day labourers.

Nishi Kanto ((50), a resident of Bumka Dharla river basin, was a well to do farmer. His father had five acres of arable land beside the river Dharla but in 2017 severe flood and erosion gobbled up their whole land and now he is simply a day labourer.

While talking to the FE, he narrated the whole story of miseries.

He demanded that the government take a massive plan to protect the peoples of Dharla and Teesta river basins from the clutches of the disaster immediately.

Villagers expressing anger observed that before election political party leaders come up with host of commitments but once the time is gone they forget everything.

Shofiqul Islam, a villager, said that the number of people in the upazila is gradually declining as many residents have migrated to other places as erosion victims. Some of the victims have permanently shifted to the flood protection dam.

Several thousand families have lost their homesteads and croplands to river erosion and have become paupers in the last one decade.

Shofiqul urged the government to take some especial repair measures for the Dharla and Teesta river basins.

If Teesta mega plan is implemented, sorrows of cores people will come to an end, local residents opined.

When asked, Shunil Kumer , executive engineer of the Water Development Board (WDB), Lalmonirhat, said, "Initially we have arranged several hundred geo bags for dumping in various points of erosion to save the homesteads on emergency basis. We have informed the higher authorities about the erosion situation to take permanent steps."

ahasnathrana@yahoo.com