Devouring Jamuna: Despair is all they feel

After the Jamuna river eroded the banks on which his ancestral home stood in Shahzadpur upazila's Koizuri village a few years ago, Md Shawkat Ali shifted his residence further inland into Koizuri union.

But that has not ended Shawkat's woes as, with the Jamuna swelling up as it does every year, he is now worried once again about losing his home.

"The Jamuna comes nearer to my house every year and it is very close this year. A part of my house has already eroded and now I am worried about losing this home too," Shawkat said last week.

Over 500 victims, like Shawkat, living near flood protection embankments in the same area face the risk of losing their shelter to loss of shelter as the erosion of river bank began in mid-May.

Their woes are compounded as they say nobody has come forward to help.

Over the past month, the rapid swelling of the river has devoured homesteads and crop lands of 13 villages in five unions -- Koizuri, Jalalpur, Sonatoni, Gala and Khukni -- in the upazila, sources said.

"Nearly 100 homesteads and several hundred bighas of crop land have eroded in the river. Of the erosion-hit areas, Pachil, Haat-Pachil of Koizuri union, and Jalalur, Ghatbari, Pukurtola villages of Jalalpur union are most affected," Shah Md Shamsuzzoha, Shahzadpur upazila nirbahi officer, told The Daily Star.

The water development board (WDB) has already started putting geobags at the affected areas to protect them against river erosion, the UNO said.

"We have already directed the union parishad chairmen of the erosion-hit areas to make a list of the victims," The UNO added.

When visiting Pachil area, this correspondent found the river bank eroding even as the WDB workers were placing the geobags.

"The river bank has been eroding rapidly over the week at Pachil area, devouring at least 20 homesteads. We have shifted our house a little away from the river bank. If erosion continues like this, we will not be able to save any of our belongings," Md Shajahan Miah, an elderly resident of Pachil village, told The Daily Star.

The Shahzadpur UNO however said the WBD has taken up a mega project of over Tk 600 crore to construct permanent structures to protect river banks in the upazila.