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6 years ago

Protecting Padma riverbanks and preventing further erosion

Naria Upazila Health Complex  sinks as the Padma  river erodes its banks in Shariatpur  last week.         — Photo:  bdnews24.com
Naria Upazila Health Complex  sinks as the Padma  river erodes its banks in Shariatpur  last week.         — Photo:  bdnews24.com

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The Padma has recently ravaged vast swathes of Naria, a little more than 22 kilometres downstream from the Padma multipurpose bridge project. The river has changed course abruptly. Once having a relatively calm and quiet presence in the area, it has turned into an all-devouring river in just a few months this year.

The Padma is the third largest river in the world, surpassed by the Congo and the Amazon rivers. The river meanders its way to the Bay of Bengal from the Himalayas through Shariatpur district that has six upazila headquarters including the recently devastated Naria. The riverbank of the river often faces deadly erosion on one side while chars emerge on the other.

Naria Upazila has a total area of 203.58 square kilometres. The Padma  flows through the northern part of the upazila that borders Zajira to the west and north, Munshiganj to the north, Bhedarganj to the east and south, and Shariatpur Sadar to the west.

People there are on the edge as the river has changed its course and has been gobbling up village after village, making even the well-off people penniless overnight. Of late, more than 5,000 families of six Union Parishads (UP) and one municipality of Naria have lost their homes, farmlands, and the hungry tide still threatens to swallow the important and valuable infrastructures in the area. More than 12 villages under the six UPs are still under threat. The upazilla had been on the quiet side of the Padma. The river used to erode along its left bank. It started eroding the right bank five to six years ago. The erosion has reached the densely populated areas and important business locations this year.

Impacts of riverbank erosion are multifarious - social, economic, health, education and sometimes political in nature. The first and foremost impact is social i.e., people become homeless due to land erosion that compels them to migrate. After forced migration, they suffer from economic crisis i.e., loss of occupation and loss of property. Sometimes, they indulge in criminal activities.

According to hydrology expert Dr Ainun Nishat, "The Padma flows on her own whims, you cannot understand Padma with mathematics or science. River erosion is a natural course. The erosion may continue for two years in the location. In order to take preventive measures, we have to understand the scale of Padma. Whatever that may work to prevent erosion in the Gorai, Madhumati, or other small rivers won't work in case of Padma".

According to a report published in August this year by online publishing outlet of NASA, hundreds of hectares of land, sometimes even thousands of hectares of land, fall into the Padma river every year through erosion. Since 1967, more than 66,000 hectares (256 square miles) of land has been lost - roughly the area of Chicago."

Water management experts wonder whether the under-construction Padma bridge, has any link with the change of course or behaviour of the Padma river. The river stabilisation plan, currently being prepared, contains some ideas about what to do in this area, but is cautious enough as it recognises that the impact of the Padma bridge river training work is not fully quantifiable.

 The Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), which carried out the Padma bridge study and was involved in the formulation of the river stabilisation plan, is conducting annual erosion prediction of the Padma river. The CEGIS is currently updating the morphology for the Padma bridge.

It is essential to protect the Padma riverbanks and prevent further erosion.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) acknowledge the direct relevance of floods and erosion to poverty and suggests flood control and riverbank protection measures amongst others. Due attention should be given to help save people vulnerable to river erosion in a sustainable manner.

Md Abdus Sobhan is a Deputy General Manager of Bangladesh Krishi Bank.

[email protected]

 

 

 

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