The first experience of the great river Padma is nothing less than overwhelming, and slightly terrifying. I first came to face the mighty river as a young lad in my teens sometime in April of the momentous year of 1971. My first sighting came with two terrors. My father was fleeing Dhaka with the family with the hope of crossing the river to escape the brutal onslaught of the Pakistan army. Arriving at the banks, there was the Padda (Padma) before us with its glorious panorama. It seemed like an oceanic river, with no sight of the other side, and the frightening prospect of crossing it.
Nearly a thousand families on the bank of the Padma river in Daulatdia union under Rajbari’s Goalanda upazila are passing days in fear of erosion.
Abdul Hakim, a day labourer from Shilaidah village in Kushtia, faces increasing difficulty crossing the Padma to get to Pabna town. The once familiar passage across the Padma, a lifeline between his home and profession, has morphed into a daunting odyssey.
The mighty Padma now lies as a pale imitation of its former self. Depletion in the flow of water from upstream, along with deposition of silt, has choked the riverbed, rendering it nearly unrecognisable.
The city's recent eye-catching developmental transformation has been a matter of curiosity for many.
Shorn of its sacred grandeur the Padma has embraced its secularised and earthier image with some muscularity, audacity and flair.
The Russian Embassy in Dhaka today said Padma Bridge is a game changer as it offers multiple opportunities in terms of regional trade, investments, connectivity, employment, tourism, and many other fields.
The Bridges Division has formed a 14-member "main committee" for the overall coordination of the inauguration ceremony of Padma Bridge on June 25.
Padma Bridge will be named after the mighty river after all, not after anyone, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said today.
Secretaries of different ministries hold a meeting at the bank of the Padma River and discuss several issues including Padma bridge project.
Thousands of Eid holidaymakers suffer immensely due to a three-kilometre tailback at Paturia ferry terminal a day before the Eid-ul-Azha.
At least three people are still missing as two sand-laden trawlers capsized in the Padma River with 31 people near Louhojong upazila of Munshiganj due to strong current and winds.
At least 35 people have been killed when a launch carrying over 150 passengers capsizes in the Padma river in Manikganj after being hit by a cargo trawler
