Erosion, even in winter

While most waterbodies run dry around the country this winter, residents of Jamalpur are spending their days in worries of erosion.

At least 250 families in Dewanganj and Bokshiganj upazilas have already lost their homesteads and about 200 acres of arable lands to the eroding Brahmaputra river. More than a thousand others, living along the 2-km stretch of the river banks are left exposed to this untimely natural calamity.

According to a local representative, the banks have been eroding for the last two months . They have been raising funds and making bamboo embankments to protect their lands but the makeshift structures are collapsing too.

So far, thousands of houses, multiple local mosques and schools have been engulfed by the rivers. Meanwhile, a state-owned sugar mill remains in threat, said locals, highlighting the Water Development Board's failure in curbing the problem despite efforts.

Mohammad Ali of Char Amkhawa union's Patadhoa village has already relocated with his family four times in the last 20 years.

"We urgently need government aid and a permanent solution to this problem," he said.

Echoing him, Md Ziaul Islam, chairman of Char Amkhawa UP, said it is necessary to excavate the rivers and build permanent embankments to protect his union.

WDB had set 13,000 geo bags over a 160-metre area on the riverbed, but about 20 metres of the embankment was washed away, mostly in Amkhawa union, said its deputy assistant engineer Rafiqul Islam.

He said the proposal for a permanent embankment has already been sent to the ministry.

The flow of the river is strong around a turning point that is near the affected unions. Thus, the strong currents are causing the soil, already loose in texture, to wash away, said Jahid Hasan Prince, Dewanganj upazila nirbahi officer, assuring of immediate steps to protect the areas.